what's going on it's all my horror fans out there and welcome back to my channel movie files elliott
back again with a brand new movie review and today we're discussing the new horror film by the name
of you won't be alone which premiered at sundance earlier this year i got a chance to check it out
early and i'm really excited to share my thoughts with you on let you know if this horror film is
worth checking out in theaters on april 1st all in this spoiler-free review before we get into it
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this movie review or make sure to give it a thumbs up and also share the review but more importantly
let's talk about this film let me know if you heard about it if you were excited for
it after seeing the trailer or hearing some of the positive buzz coming out of the film festivals but
more importantly if you've seen the film would you all think about it let's talk about the story the
narrative the performances the cinematography what were some things that didn't really work for you
all and let's talk about everything in between in the comments below so let's jump right into
my thoughts of this film first and foremost i have been doing this for the last couple years
when it comes to more smaller independent films i try to stay away from trailers and reading
synopsis i have heard some of the positive buzz and when i hear some positive buzz especially for
independent films i try to stay away from the marketing so i went into this pretty cold
and pretty blind so i want to kind of give you all that same privilege in regards to not
knowing much about the film because i love discovering something for the first time so
i'll be vague about the the idea of this film starting off with the story at hand so without
giving too much away this is taking place in the 19th century we see a we meet a young girl at
literally at an age of a baby she gets kidnapped by a witch she falls into this relationship with
the witch they kind of have a bit of a falling out and we see this young lady goes about the villages
and she meets people and let's just say with this new relationship with the witch she may become
something more supernatural and she has the abilities to taking people's liking taking their
their bodies and their appearances and living through these people and i'll just kind of leave
the synopsis at that so with all that being said some things that really kind of stood out to me
number one performance wise our lead actors by the name of era navaska as navina she is an actress
who doesn't get much to say in this role because again when you see the film she was taken at an
early age she really wasn't developed she wasn't able to interact with people have relationships
with people so she's a very naive very kind of you know doesn't have much life experience so she's
not able to speak and have normal interaction with people and i thought that that sarah's performance
as naveen who's our main character throughout the narrative she conveyed a lot without saying much
right it was in the eyes it was in her her you know uh mannerisms the way she carried herself
that i really loved the kind of nuance that she was able to convey and again a character with
no lines being able to give to her and again what i also enjoyed about the performances as a whole
again not giving too much away we see naveen she interacts with people throughout the film and she
takes their liking she takes their looks she takes their lives and all of the actors and actresses
like naomi replies who who naveen takes her body seeing her and seeing naomi invoke that younger
naive type of character so she takes the form of a male and how that actor is able to convey
that mindset that she's and i thought that all the actors that had to gotta go into that mindset
and be this younger actress i thought they did a good job in bringing out those nuances and
the performances there's a relationship that i mentioned in regards to she was taken by a witch
you would imagine that she has a certain feeling about the witch taking away her childhood right
and it's a very toxic very interesting kind of mother of a source relationship with this
witch and i thought maria was the witch's name very interesting character very dark character
very evil character at a certain extent you know she is a witch and speaking of the witch
the folklore and the the mythology that the film builds on how the village knows about
the witch and what the witch can do to people and just seeing all the things kind of play out
and again speaking to that narrative of horror and which is story we've seen our fair share share of
those type of narratives but very similar to a film i reviewed a couple months back by the name
of the curse which was a werewolf film it showed me another side of werewolves right it showed me
another side of the mythology and i think the same thing could be said about this film we
spend time what it looks like to be a witch and as the title alludes to you know not being alone them
seeking that type of kinship the relationships motherhood discovering yourself and this is very
much a movie about self-discovery so those themes the nuance the performance the mythology the lore
also from a production standpoint first time director did a good job of really
embracing the atmosphere and really kind of putting you in that mood putting you in that
time period from the costuming from the score from the way he really sits in the scene i really enjoy
this direction and again this film is gorgeous to look at i think i don't know why this film comes
to mind but there's a film that came out years ago by the name of manos which was just a a great
film within itself but also a gorgeous looking film this had those type of mono's type of look
color palette camera movements this is a really well shot film so those are really some things
that stood out to me and also just developing the character the arc of the character and again a
self a story of self discovery figuring you who you are as a person living through someone else
growing up as an individual all that stuff was really some strong points that stood out to me
negatively speaking i'm not gonna lie this film had a bit of disjointness to it the way that they
put the film together it was kind of i don't say hard to follow along the narrative but it
was just like we would cut from meeting her as a baby and her relationship with a certain character
develop that to the relation with the witch and then her finding out who she is a person and how
we transition from naomi's character to a male character to who she ultimately kind of decides
to live through it was kind of disjointed in that narrative and how they told the story and going
back to that relationship that she had with the witch we learned more about maria we learn more
about the witch and how she came to be and how she is kind of cold-hearted and why she becomes
the person that she becomes but when we learn about her in the film it was really weird the
placement of where we kind of get the back story it was confusing if i'm not gonna lie if you've
seen the film you'll know what i'm talking about and if you do decide to take a chance on this film
when you learn about her backstory i was confused because i thought we were learning about someone
else i'll just kind of say that it was really kind of weird so as far as the the way that they told
the story the story it just wasn't as cohesive as i would have personally liked it as far as how i
take it and consume movies and especially the narrative of this story which doesn't have
the most dialogue it is a very you know where a lot of silence you know a lot of scenes that
kind of sit within itself which kind of brings me to another con the pacing this film is almost
you know it's an hour and a half a little over an hour and a half and it didn't feel that way
it felt longer at points because there were a lot of times that i felt that the director
wanted to convey a certain emotion a certain kind of narrative that he was saying within
his character but it just didn't hit me virtually as what it was intended to be because there's a
lot of moments where you're just sitting down with the character looking out at the sun sitting down
milking a cow sitting down and just you know thinking right and again i can appreciate the
sitting down taking your time but a lot of times it just felt like it was unnecessary right just
for my personal taste so again the disjoint of the how they told the story the misplacements of
backstory and really not spending as much time with certain elements of her developing herself
as a person i wish we can flesh more of that out and i'm not gonna lie it was kind of frustrating
as an audience member seeing you feel bad for our main character but at the end of the day
what she's doing in taking these people's lives she's still in their lives so i kind of it was
hard to kind of root for a happy ending per se for a character which brings me to my last point
the ending had some payoff but ultimately i felt a bit underwhelmed by how we wrapped the narrative
and and the payoff for our characters again and had a moment i'm like you know you should have
did that a long time ago but it just didn't hit me as as it didn't impact me as much as i was one
two because again it's it's a slow burn it just didn't live up to that payoff for me personally so
overall before i give you my thoughts and my score if you haven't already make sure you're liking the
video sharing the video commenting your thoughts and comments overall this film you won't be alone
does have a very impressive production some really solid performances has a really interesting lore
on what it has to say about witches and in the mythos of what this witch and the and how she
affects the town does but overall i just didn't feel the impact the emotion that it was trying to
convey and i thought that it was just a little bit too long of a truth from my personal taste but i
have to say i'm i'm in the middle with this film i have more positives than i do negative so with
that being said i'm gonna give you won't be alone a three out of five i wish it would explore more
of the narrative and the themes and the characters but the things that do stand out to me performance
production the mythos the practical effects which were fantastic i meant i forgot to mention that
earlier when we see the transformations that was awesome i'll just say that so again three
out of five it will become the theaters on by the time i drop this video which is on a friday
april 1st happy april fool's day i don't think for my personal movie going experience i don't
think it's movie worthy again this beautiful look at so i can only imagine i saw it on my television
i would imagine it's beautiful to look at but i don't know if it's something that i would want
to see in a theater so take that as you will i do recommend you all watch it but maybe in the
comfort of your own home so hey that's just my thoughts positive negatives and everything out in
between three out of five for this new film let me know what you all thought of the film once you've
seen it pros cons and everything in between like i said i appreciate you watching this review if you
haven't already make sure you're liking the review sharing it commenting and come and join the family
i appreciate you all watching this review hope you're staying safe as you can see on the screen
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