This A-24 film bills itself as horror, the most horrific being the abundance of human excrement central to the plot. Somewhere in the script is commentary about race relations, familial obligations, elder care and generational trauma… but it gets sidelined by fecal encrusted bedsheets and urine soaked rugs. The script hints at secret cults and sinister secrets, but the truth all mundane. The actors all give quality performances, Kathryn Hunter deserves acclaim for the quality of her performance and the physical endurance required. However, it does get lost beneath layers of foulness, on metaphorical and literal levels. her character is someone, by design, repugnant, and her decrepit state only exacerbates her worst tendencies. She can also be surprisingly sympathetic and darkly humorous, but throughout the messaging gets muddled. The ending leaves one in a conflicted moral state as the resolution. I suppose it can be argued it is all horrific, and there are definitely some strange beats, but I’m hard-pressed to call this a horror film, and hard to recommend it in most other capacities.
The Front Room (2024)