“Hold your breath” is director Karrie Crouse And Will Joines“first feature film, developed within the framework of the Sundance InstituteThe Writer’s Lab program is probably a passion project. Unfortunately, due to an extremely familiar and well-worn cabin fever premise, it offers a highly repetitive and derivative experience – and cannot escape the shadow of its many predecessors who have covered similar ground. It does for dust what Alexandre Amenabar “The others” made for light, but it lacks its formal mastery, its tactile textures and its enveloping atmosphere. Sarah PaulsonHowever, gives it her all in a steely performance, offering intensity and vulnerability as a wife and mother dealing with grief.
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In 1933, in the dusty desert of Oklahoma, Margaret (Paulson) lives with her two daughters, Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins). Her husband has gone to work and another daughter, Ada, has died. It is an almost apocalyptic hell, with dust storms and drought ravaging the country, everything is covered in dust permanently and there is no greenery anywhere. Margaret has to protect her children from the dust, which means that all the cracks and gaps in the walls and doors are carefully sealed, masks are worn outside, etc. These sequences are reminiscent of similar sequences in Nicole Kidman protects her children in “The Others.” One of the girls is deaf and nonverbal, as in “A quiet place.” Soon they all begin to focus on one legend – that of the Gray Man – who reconstitutes himself and dissolves into dust, enters people and makes them do terrible things. The Gray Man is analogous to “The Babadook.”
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Other characters, such as Marguerite’s cousin Esther (Annaleigh Ashford), on the verge of depression, and a mysterious wanderer, Grady (Ebony Moss-Bachrach), contribute to the hysteria and paranoia of the atmosphere. “Hold Your Breath” dissipates any sense of suspense or stakes due to its predictable pace. The film feels longer than its 94 minutes by nearly half an hour. The repeated routines of dust cleaning and wall blocking are tedious, and there is little variety in locations or number of characters on screen to generate or maintain interest.
The filming style, which relies almost exclusively on close-ups and medium shots, contributes to this claustrophobia. Only exteriors benefit from long shots or masterful compositions. Far from giving the film an intimate feel, it gives Hold Your Breath a sense of confinement. This is a very TV movie by nature and, unsurprisingly, a streaming movie—it will soon premiere on Hulu. The CGI in the many dust storms is more than acceptable, considering the modest production compared to productions like “Mad Max“franchise.
The actors try to bring the film to life. Paulson gets the chance to carry a film and proves that she is up to the task. Among the children, Amiah Miller, in the role of the eldest daughter, really makes a strong impression, becoming, in essence, the protagonist of the final act. Moss-Bachrach, one of the stars who appeared in “The bear,” is appropriately menacing and seems oddly period-appropriate, the kind of face you’d see in the 1930s. All of the adult actors deploy accents you’d expect given the setting and the era.
“Hold Your Breath” is a strange beast: There’s not enough thrills for horror fans, nor enough blood and gore for slasher fans. Even as a straight-up drama, it’s not entirely successful. Paulson is an established scream queen at this point after starring in numerous films Ryan Murphy productions. Its fans will find the most value in “Hold Your Breath,” watching it gradually fall apart over time. Other audiences will have a hard time engaging with it, because “Hold Your Breath” will always remind them of other, better films they could have watched instead. [D]
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