Movies

Had potential, and is mildly interesting throughout, but ultimately fails to deliver. Drags in places and has an anticlimactic conclusion.Decent performances all round though.

Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes from an abusive male-dominated communal cult where she lived as Marcy May. Her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) eagerly takes her in. Lucy is married to Ted (Hugh Dancy). She has difficulties reintegrating into the world despite her sister's efforts. The movie flashes back occasionally to her time with the charismatic leader Patrick (John Hawkes).It was my first time seeing Elizabeth Olsen act and it was quite a good surprise. Other than being the younger sister to the twins, I wasn't really expecting to see this mature performance. The story has very disturbing sections with her in the cult. It's uncomfortable which a good indie sometimes becomes. It does need to be more consistent with its intensity. It's a bit too slow in a few places.

There is plenty of potential in this movie. Great cinematography, good acting and an interesting plot about a young woman who lives with her sister after leaving a cult. It just moves too slowly. As a viewer, it's frustrating to have to sit through glacially sluggish, pretty shots of the actors staring out a window or across a lake. It's annoying. I guess they think it's poetic or artistic but - hello!!! - remember the audience?? Here we are! Often the sound, also, is poor. You can hardly hear the dialogue because they're going for some pretentious mood. But you miss entire chunks of conversations.The music, also, is overdone and intrusive. The movie needs more drive. Maybe a therapist for Martha? But sadly the director seems more intent on making everyone and everything look pretty than creating a dynamic and powerful film. Which this could easily have been.