From the first minute of Hallow Road until the eightieth there is an ever-increasing tension, and it never ends, even as the film closes.
Our minds play tricks on us in a crisis, and for Maddie and Frank, their brains tricked them the worst.
Written by Hailey Passmore
Maddie (Rosamund Pike), a paramedic, and Frank (Matthew Rhys), a stressed executive, are parents of their young University aged daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell). Within the late hours of the night, 02:00 to be more precise, Maddie receives a terribly distressing phone call from Alice only hours after she runs away from home. As soon as Maddie picks up the phone and it cuts off, the audience knows something is wrong. When she finally speaks to Alice, they race out the door as they begin to learn about the tragic car accident she caused. From their house, they need to get to their daughter out in Ashfolk on Hallow Road to do what parents do: save their child from the situation she got herself into. In this area, Hallow Road is known for being the place teenagers go to get wasted alone in the dark woods, adding an underlying worry for both Maddie and Alice. The closer and closer Maddie and Frank get to Hallow Road, to their daughter, the more of the truth is revealed.
As a member of the audience, you would never expect that an 80-minute film taking place all from the inside of a car could be one of the most stressful films you’ve watched in a while, but that is entirely the just of Hallow Road. Director Babak Anvari chooses to begin the film by highlighting the crash and then an empty house, as if no one is home. Utter silence and some alluring music, the fire alarm goes off, Maddie receives the phone call, the first of many. So much yet so little happens even before they find out what Maddie did that Anvari gets the audience’s heart rate beating, and anticipation rises.
Alice is a young and vulnerable girl whom the audience is only able to know through her distressed voice on the phone. Yet, when she doesn’t answer her parents’ calls, we are privy to a contrasting, more upbeat Alice in her voicemail message. The difference between the Alice the audience is privy to and the Alice her parents once knew is absolutely chilling. In an attempt to save their daughter, Maddie and Frank are torn between coaching her through CPR, calling the proper authorities, and even forging a story to take the blame away from Alice. Not only do the couple begin to tear apart at the seams, but dark secrets also begin to be revealed. It develops into not only a chase to save their daughter but to escape their past.
It becomes difficult to describe exactly what Anvari does, but with William Gillies’ script, there was no holding back. In such a subtle way, the viewer is invited to witness one family’s life crash and burn. The camera is so subtle, yet when a higher intensity moment occurs, Anvari changes the camera angles and brings the audience closer to the worry and horror in the parents’ face, and especially eyes. As they continue frantically calling Alice and either getting her or her voicemail, anxieties continue to rise. The dash-cam footage of the couple changes from the inside to the outside of the car in just the right moments. A Steadicam becomes handheld as it zooms into their faces. Even reflections of the GPS or their phone call to their daughter shine onto their faces, further reminding the audience of the constricting time restraints.
So much could have gone wrong with such a short time span of a film, but Anvari keeps the audience hooked the entire time. Not only does the film remain alluring, but it also requires thought from the audience when mysterious voices grace the other end of the phone call to their daughter. By the end, we are left with a result that we might never have expected to be the truth.
Hallow Road is now in UK and Irish cinemas, and though it may not be in a cinema near you, do your best to find one nearby and watch this high-stakes film.
Originally published on wspotlight.blogspot.com
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