Windsor Independent - January 2016

Film Reviews
GOODNIGHT MOMMY
DIRECTED BY VERONIKA FRANZ, SEVERIN FIALA
BY AMANDA SINASAC
THE SKELETON TWINS
DIRECTED BY CRAIG JOHNSON
BY AMANDA SINASAC
/5 /5
Goodnight Mommy trails twin boys, Lukas and Elias
(Lukas and Elias Schwarz), who spend the long summer
days exploring the lush Austrian countryside that
surrounds their ultra-modern home, and awaiting the
return of their mother from an unexplained cosmetic
surgery.
Upon her arrival, the brothers are understandably
shocked to find her face bruised and bandaged beyond
recognition. Even more alarming is that their once caring
mother has taken on an oddly cold and distant demeanor.
Her increasingly callous behavior brings the boys to
suspect that this woman is an imposter.
This film’s significant creepiness doesn’t stem from
excessive gore or jump scares. What makes Goodnight
Mommy truly frightening is a mounting sense of
discomfort. Relying primarily on visual narrative, the
film’s purposeful quiet lends a cringeworthy quality to
every well-placed step, crackle and crunch.
Disturbing the whole way through, Goodnight Mommy
dissects the bond of mother and child, and tests the
loyalties of its audience. As Lukas and Elias resort to
increasingly violent and illogical measures, we can’t help
but suspect there’s something about them that isn’t quite
right.
I had high expectations for Craig Johnson’s comedydrama,
The Skeleton Twins, which came with enthusiastic
recommendation from a trusted friend. Having previously
enjoyed the comedic stylings of Kristen Wiig, the film
seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately, the reality failed
to live up to the hype.
The Skeleton Twins is essentially a story about a pair
of insufferable siblings whose selfish and destructive
behavior brings misery to everyone around them. When
estranged twins Maggie (Wiig) and Milo (Bill Hader)
each find their suicide attempts coincidentally thwarted
on the same day, they’re prompted to reconcile after not
speaking for nearly a decade. As they work to mend their
troubled relationship, it quickly becomes clear why the
two lost touch in the first place.
Hader and Wiig do manage to inject some life and laughs
into the screenplay, which is otherwise pretty dull. Though
they’re portraying a pair of unpleasant characters, the
relatable awkward brand of humour that has been constant
throughout each of their acting careers is as present as
ever. The resulting onscreen chemistry is magnetic, even
(and perhaps especially) when the two are clashing.
It isn’t a bad film, but it wasn’t engaging enough to hold my
interest. Johnson succeeds in the difficult task of tackling
the theme of depression with both honesty and humour,
and the lead performances are solid. But clocking in at
only 93 minutes, The Skeleton Twins shouldn’t have the
chance to drag, yet somehow it does anyway.
windsorindependent.com
JANUARY 2016
27