Grapefruit

Film: Bring Her Back
Format: Streaming video from HBO Max on Fire!

Some movies are hard to write about for a variety of reasons. It can be that the film doesn’t have a great deal of plot, which for me is problematic, since I tend to be concerned with narrative more than anything else. In the case of Bring Her Back, the problem is one of the actual story. There’s a lot here that I don’t want to reveal, not even under a spoiler tag. This is a movie that everyone should go into as cold as possible, and I don’t want to be the source of even potentially ruining that. So, I’m going to be talking more in generalities here, and won’t be exploring that far into the movie—even some of the details should be revealed here in the film itself, not on a blog.

What you should know (and probably do know, based on the title and the knowledge that this is a horror movie) is that this is a film about bringing someone back from the dead. If we’ve learned anything from literature based on this theme, we know that it’s always a terrible idea. We learned this from The Monkey’s Paw, Pet Sematary, and pretty much any book or film that involves bringing back the spirit of someone who has died. With the possible exception of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s pretty much a universal.

We’re going to be introduced initially to Andy (Billy Barratt) and his half-sister Piper (Sora Wong). Sora is severely visually impaired; she can see light and shapes, but not much more. They arrive home from school one day to find their father dead in the shower. Since Piper’s mother has apparently died in the past, they are put into the foster care system. Andy, who is a few months away from 18, plans to get custody of Piper when he turns 18, but until that time, it’s into the foster system they go.

Piper is fostered by Laura (Sally Hawkins), and initially, the kids’ social worker Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) wants to put Andy somewhere else, but the two insist that they not be separated. And so Andy goes with Piper into Laura’s care, who is not really ready for them. Laura is odd, and we learn she is mourning the death of her daughter Cathy, who was also visually impaired. Laura is also fostering a boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is mute and very clearly disturbed in a number of ways, and is frequently locked in his room, or who stands in the middle of the drained swimming pool behind the house.

As I said above, I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail here. It’s soon very evident that things are not right at Laura’s house. A lot of what she does may seem like it is intended to come across as caring and loving, but really comes across as strange and upsetting, and this is a trend that only intensifies as the film continues. We also learn that Andy is troubled for a number of reasons, and as the story continues on, these reasons become more and more evident, and how we see his relationship with his sister changes as well. But really, there’s nothing more I can say without revealing something about the film, and I don’t want to do that.

It's worth noting that there are a few spots in the film that are really gory. These increase as the film goes on, there’s some really disturbing imagery in the middle, and then a lot of it at the end of the film, most of it involving Oliver. You’ve been warned.

Bring Her Back is exquisitely cast. Billy Barratt has been in a few films in the past, but nothing that I’ve seen—this is my first exposure to him, and he’s excellent in this, and extremely sympathetic. It’s Sora Wong’s first film, and she may well have a career ahead of her. I also want to give a lot of credit to Jonah Wren Phillips, who is asked to do a lot of very difficult and upsetting things in this film. I hope he had a good time doing it, because otherwise, the kid will be permanently scarred.

But it’s Sally Hawkins who is first and foremost here, and that’s not a surprise. I adore Sally Hawkins in everything I’ve seen her in. She’s one of those actors who I would watch do anything and whose work I seek out specifically because she is in it. Hawkins is completely committed to this role, and it’s exactly what it needs. It’s in the realm of Toni Collette’s work in Hereditary, if a little less demanding. Still, the film would be good without Hawkins, but it wouldn’t be this.

Be warned--Bring Her Back isn’t an easy watch, but it’s a hell of a ride to go on.

Why to watch Bring Her Back: Sally Hawkins commits to the bit.
Why not to watch: It’s far gorier than you might be ready for.