By RICHELLE CHARKOT
Starring Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross and Julianna Layne
Written and directed by BT Meza
Brainstorm Media
Waking up in an unfamiliar bed takes a sinister turn in the high-concept horror film AFFECTION, starring Jessica Rothe and Joseph Cross. Rothe stars as Ellie, who finds herself in a home she does not recognize, with a man she’s never met and a daughter (Juliana Layne), when she remembers having a son. Naturally, she panics. Her anxiety is eventually quelled when the strange man before her tells her that he actually is her husband, and she has a rare traumatic brain disorder that causes false memories based on books, movies, etc. Although Ellie vividly remembers an entire life that does not seem to exist, she resigns to her new reality and even begins to settle in – until (of course) cracks start to show in what she’s being told.
The cast deftly handles this sci-fi/horror three-hander. Rothe (Happy Death Day) is fantastic as Ellie, aptly portraying cautious motherliness towards her would-be child, despite the character’s unusual circumstances, as well as enduring a fairly taxing level of physicality as the film moves into a body horror space. Cross, however, deserves a special shout-out; he really shines as a lovelorn man with the potential for nefarious motivations. Cross effectively activates what feels like blaring red alerts that a predator is in the vicinity, and yet, he still manages to toe the line when the audience can be reasonably convinced that Ellie might just think he’s a bit pathetic, desperate and, ultimately, harmless. Alongside them, little Julianna Layne is clearly born for this; acting up a storm as the terrified daughter pulled into the chaos.
Although the story does lend itself to a smaller production (adding to the necessary feelings of confinement and loneliness), and it’s always a blessing these days to find a film in the realm of 90 minutes, it does feel like the script could use a few extra pages of exposition to handle what becomes a fairly dense science fiction horror film. The overarching concepts aren’t so complicated that film becomes too hard to engage with, and it never really gets completely confusing, but it does feel as though some world-building beats are swiftly passed by, slightly to the detriment of the film. It runs out of steam in the closing act and could have benefitted from a few moments to let the story breathe, allowing the audience to connect with the existential themes AFFECTION attempts to handle.
