Greta (2019)
Finally, it feels like Isabelle Huppert is starting to break into mainstream western audiences after being described as the "Meryl Streep of Foreign Films". She is getting more and more mainstream roles and is finally starting to become a recognizable figure for those who don't necessarily go to smaller theaters to see smaller movies. Greta serves as a great way to highlight her as an actor and help her stick out, but sadly that comes because the rest of the movie is pretty dull for the most part.
I found the majority of where this plot goes to be pretty uninteresting, there were clear setups for this to be an interesting character study with psychological thriller elements but they never really do anything with those setups. Especially with the character of Greta they seemingly set up an interesting character and backstory that we never learn about leaving her character feeling forgettable and bland past the actor playing her role. I always wanted to go deeper with this film but it never left the shallow. The same can be said about Chloë Grace Moretz's character Frances, this is a character who has been through a lot and has not properly dealt with those emotions. They set up interesting relationships with people in her life and set up that interesting emotional backbone but never really do anything with it. There is no exploration much less a conclusion to any of these elements that really could have taken the film to another level. The plot we did get instead felt pretty cliched and confusing at points. There are things in this film that make absolutely no sense that really took me out of the film.
Like I said the best part of this film is easily Isabelle Huppert and I even think her character is pretty effective when it comes to the horror elements in this film. Despite lacking the proper arch that her character deserves she has a real presence to her, whenever we enter a dark room there is always a feeling that she is ready to jump out from just around the corner, and I mean that in a great way. This is a character that legitimately got on my nerves despite not only lacking an interesting arch but also being so simple. There is no supernatural element to her that adds a level of terror or anything of the sort, instead, she is just an old woman yet still is so effective in being a threatening figure. I just wish this movie used the depth set up throughout it so I could say that not only the character of Greta would be memorable but the movie overall, this could have been an early hit of the beginning of the year but as is the film acts more of a drug putting me to sleep.