FANTASIA 2021: Agnes
FANTASIAThe best word to describe Mickey Reece's Agnes is incoherent. Depicted as a supernatural exorcism thriller but delivered as more so an internalised character study. Reece's film is extensively overstuffed with material and narrative that ultimately drowns any formidable and cohesive story to be told.
First and foremost, there is a staggering amount of material present here – material that is constantly explored in the likes of sexual abuse, abuse of power, austerity, misogyny, etc that are all consciously explored to major lengths. This does not sound any or at all concerning, but when put into context in a feature that is barely ninety minutes long and a central narrative with characters is yet to be explored, that is undeniably a problem.
To make matters worse, when Agnes touches upon these many layers and sub-plots, Reece is unable to be concise and decisive with said inclusions, which are repeatedly overblown and incredibly – in fact, disastrously – on the nose. Heavy-handed in its expression would be an understatement, with Reece and co-writer John Selvidge’s terrible use nuance, or lack thereof, in costume and make-up that painfully convey mood and theme to a point in which it is both condescending and patronising.
Not only would this fault arguably fall on Reece's head but also the editing, which is overblown and somewhat facetious. The feature employs a cyclical edit but takes a drastic time jump that causes a severe lack of cohesion within the structure of the feature. Ultimately this can be played off as subverting expectation and the genre, but all in all, in which direction the feature then heads down, offers little in a unique or remotely interesting fashion.
Granted, to the features credit, the film does craft an eerie atmosphere. Whilst not in an elevated degree that heightens the genre, but a surface level of uncomfortable nature that certainly crafts unease but never fully grows to a potential the viewer would hope. Equally as frustrating is the feature’s performances. The feature, again, tries to subvert the expectation by switching the audience's understanding of the features lead, but all in all, this element only reinforces the lack of cohesion exhibited. It becomes a secondary issue of familiarising and formalising a direct relationship on yet another character whose depth has yet to be finalised and curated. Therefore, just before the viewer becomes acquainted with the lead, the film is more or less over – and what an anticlimactic ending it is. More worrisome is how wooden and on-the-nose the supporting cast is; it’s notable that Reece and writer Selvidge craft caricature characters that are hollow and uninteresting, purposely curated to antagonise or craft world building to the lead character but ultimately undermine the experience ten-fold.
Something deep inside Mickey Reece's Agnes propels a poignant, emotionally deep and compelling drama. However, this iteration of Agnes is most certainly not it, crafting a stagnant, uninteresting and often patronising exploration of faith and society, wrapped around the implication of an exorcism film and then taking the nuance of a film like Joker and expecting the viewer to be emotionally compelled on the fragments of a purposely fabricated society.
