GRIMMFEST 2020: Alone
GRIMMFEST
Alone is an incredibly competent thriller. It doesn’t do anything particularly flashy or revolutionary within the genre, but sometimes nailing the fundamentals is enough. When the recently widowed Jessica (Jules Wilcox) sets out on a cross country journey away from home, she encounters a little more than she bargains for. She keeps bumping into a mysterious man (Marc Menchaca) in a battered Land Rover, and somehow, his intentions seem quite dubious. It’s brilliant. The perfect choice when wanting to watch a clean-cut, no-nonsense chase thriller.
It’s exactly as advertised, and it’s smart too. In any such scene, there’s always a thousand things on the mind. It works within the barebones nature of its setup. How will she escape this scenario? Where will she go? What will happen if things go wrong? The stakes are clearly defined, and the decisions made by the characters never feel far-fetched or stretched out. Considering director John Hyams’ usual foray of MMA filmmaking, it is a statement of intent for his ability as a director, to have taken Mattias Olsson’s spectacular script, and done it as much justice as he has. The direction and camera work is subtle, but every set-piece works, however complicated it might be. Intertwining that with the intelligence of the script, and the cultivation of knowledge the audience is drip-fed, Alone speaks for itself with how intelligently put together it is.
The opening feels like a spin on Spielberg’s Duel (1971). While Duel deals more with the self-destructiveness of toxic masculinity, Alone turns that on its head. The mystery of Marc Menchaca’s character is terrifying, and the intentions he has are a total gaslight both to the audience and the protagonist. It’s a complete trap. It’s either: Trust he’s telling the truth, and that he lacks the self-awareness of his pestering, or run, and face the regret of not helping someone genuinely in need. It’s brilliant writing, and Menchaca really tows the line between those outcomes brilliantly.
It’d be interesting to see John Hyams direct more scripts that interest him like this one. While that might seem unfair to look down on the rest of his portfolio, he’s clearly a talented director. There’s a distinct ability he’s shown here, that would lend itself well to similar projects down the line. Combining set-piece and action with an intelligent script, is most of what is needed to make good popcorn-cinema after all.