December 14, 2023
Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) was the wife of college professor Clay (Ethan Hawke). They had two children, teenage boy Archie (Charlie Evans) and a pre-teen girl Rose (Farrah Mackenzie). One day, fed up with the stress in their home and careers, Amanda booked a house in Long Island on Airbnb for their family to spend the weekend together. When they got there, the house was big, stylish and beautiful, but their phones had no signal.
That afternoon, the whole family went to the nearby beach to relax. However, their seaside visit was marred by the strange and alarming incident of an oil tanker heading straight onto the short and running aground on the sand in front of them. That night, a man and his daughter, both dressed to the nines, appeared at their door introducing themselves as George H. "GH" (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth (Myha'la), the owners of the house they rented.
This tense psychological drama film was produced, written and directed by Egyptian-American filmmaker Sam Esmail, adapted from a 2020 novel of the same name by Bangladeshi-American author Rumaan Alam. It had a riveting premise centering on the uncertain scenario of an impending apocalyptic event. It started with information being held scarce and not trustworthy, leaving everyone groping in the dark with what's going on in the world.
The cinematography with atypical unnerving camera angles worked very well with the chilling sound effects mixing and stark musical score to create that unsettling atmosphere that let the viewers marinate in the same dilemma as the protagonists. The most unexpected things, from gentle creatures like deer, to technological wonders like self-driving cars, were involved in the most eerie scenes which kept us wondering as much as the characters were.
Whatever limitations there may be in the script, the veteran actors in the cast (Roberts, Hawke, Ali, plus Kevin Bacon) certainly pulled off the tough challenge of selling this thriller where the horror is more felt than seen. Conversations dealing with all aspects of human society and behavior -- from misanthropy to racism to terrorism -- kept us so intensely riveted to the building mystery. Then that abrupt ending came and blew our mind (not). 7/10.
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