The Welcome to the Blumhouse films continue with Nocturne. The title refers to a piece of music inspired by the night. This film is written and directed by Zu Quirke who previously directed short films. Lonely singing opens the film and then a look down a dark hall. This tracks down until there is the painting of a young boy Mozart at the piano. A turn to continue the violin playing by a young girl (Ji Eun Hwang). She is interrupted by the chiming of a clock. There is a sun symbol and scrawled writing on the wall. The girl walks to the balcony with the sun shining and drops down! A piano plays as we get home video of two baby girls growing and playing the piano. There is a party, really a gathering, Juliet Lowe (Sydney Sweeney) is trying to make a call from her room. Sweeney plays Cassie Howard in Euphoria. She puts on her headphones and starts playing the piano before being interrupted by Vivian (Madison Iseman) who borrows her headphones. Iseman was Mary Ellen in Annabelle Comes Home (2019).
The relationship of the two sisters is a strong part of this film. Vivian calls her sister Wombie. Juliet calls her Vi. She gets the attention of her parents, David and Cassie (Julie Benz), we get from family friend, Mike (A.J. Tanner) that the girls are twins. Also, that the older twin, Vivian is going to the presitious Juillard. The girls are attending Lindberg Academy. There is a car ride with Juliet listening to piano music on her earphones. At the academy, Vivian sees her boyfriend Max (Jacques Colimon) and kisses him. Colimon was in the sci fi show The Society. Mike reassures Juliet and checks that she has her pills. I really like this set-up, not dark, but bright. Still, we have a younger sister in the shadow her sister who everything comes easy. Next, we have a Lindberg teacher, Gordon (JoNeil Kennedy) addressing the students about the death of Moira Wilson six weeks ago. She was going to perform a concerto solo and the teacher says the concerto is going to performed in her memory. Juliet is in the audience. We get a smiling photo of Moira with her violin with some eerie music.
A quartet plays for Dr. Cask (Ivan Shaw) with Vivian at the piano and Juliet by her side. Shaw was Albert Chan in the drama Pearson. At lunch, Juliet sits quietly as Vivian, Max, and their friend Alexis (Miles McKenna) talk about Mad Moira and her symbols. Later, Vivian wants her sister to compete over her teacher Roger Mellig, she jokes about the claw, Mellig’s hand problem. A nice sister moment. A man drops a note book and walks away. Juliet sees the sun symbol(!) on it and then that it belonged to Moira Wilson. The bell rings and Juliet puts the notebook in her pack before heading to class. Later, Juliet is playing piano, it is difficult to see if it is the actress actually playing the piano since it is a closeup of their hands and then cuts to her face. She is there with Mellig (John Rothman). Juliet wants to play Saint-Saëns, Mellig notes that Vivian is playing it, and wants her to stay with Mozart. She sees in a room Vivian playing to Dr. Cask, there is a heartbeat thumping. Juliet hands Dr. Cask her performance piece and then Vivian smiles before walking on.
Juliet sets on her piano, Saint-Saëns Second Concerto in G Minor, this is the piece that Moira Wilson was playing at the opening. At the now lit hallway, Juliet looks at the Mozart painting hearing a violin playing, then it stops. In the dark room, she looks behind a curtain and finds the sun symbol. There is a strange saying on the notebook that promises “immortal glory” and then Juliet plays a piece on the piano. On the next page, is a woman with strange symbols around her. Juliet then sees Dr. Cask who says she was playing “Devil’s Trill Sonata” by Tartini. He says that Julie wants to play the same piece as Vivian and then leaves. More pages of the notebook has some disturbing occult images and then a torn page for the music. She wakes up to Vivian knocking on her door. Later, Vivian plays Saint-Saëns to some applause. Then, Juliet walks up for her performance, the piece is jaunty and complicated. Suddenly, the black hallway appears in her iris and Juliet finds herself walking in it now lit with garish red light.
The room is lit by diffuse sunlight and Juliet walks in to the balcony and hears a distorted rumbling that shifts to audience applause. She sees herself on stage with roses as everyone applauds. This Juliet turns and smiles, Juliet starts to tear up, and then we find her wakened by Gordon. She has passed out and Gordon asks her if she’s had unusual thoughts. Juliet says no. A student who has passed out after a death? I don’t think this would be taken lightly. At class, Juliet looks at the notebook and sees three objects in the girl’s hand look like three of her pills. Vivian drops a paper of a middle finger and is angry at her sister. Juliet goes to see the announcement and her name. I think Vivian should be more worried about her sister passing out. Juliet starts to turn from nice girl to angry. She drops Mellig for Dr. Hask and at their first session he says Vivian plays like the Devil is at the door. Juliet asks about Moira who beat Vivian and he says she played like the Devil is in the room. Quirke’s writing and direction is brilliant, capturing the awkwardness of teens, but also with a touch of H.P Lovecraft. Nocturne covers obsession, especially with a artist, sisterhood, and the darkness that is at the heart of this movie!
Five Piano Concertos out of Five!
#Nocturne, #ZuQuirke, #SydneySweeney, #MadisonIseman, #JacquesColimon,
#welcometoblumhouse
No comments:
Post a Comment