GRACE (2009)
I am about to tell you something now that isn´t very politically correct and this isn´t something that I am particularly proud of but someone has to say it… and that someone is me! You see, every once in a while you come across someone who always has to point out that whenever someone is pregnant, how beautiful they look and how the pregnancy becomes them. These people are full of shit! I don´t care what you say but I don´t think I will ever look at a pregnant woman and say to myself: “Oh my god, how beautiful! That is truly a wonder of nature!” I know, I know, I know that it´s all part of the circle of life and that we shall celebrate it and on and on and on without end but I have a hard time coping with this. I admit that I don´t have much experience when it comes to pregnancies. I don´t have any kids myself and I am a guy so getting myself pregnant is out of the question. At least for a little while longer it is anyhow, but I watched this fascinating documentary on TV the other night about a scientist (who looked very much like the current governor of California) and how he´s come up with a way to make men pregnant! I know, it sounds incredible but just wait a year or two until they get the kinks worked out of the system and then we´ll have no more excuses, guys!
What I´m trying to get at is that I am willing to go along with how happy having a child makes people but are you telling me that there´s women out there who, if they had the choice, would choose to go around, bearing that kid for nine fucking months and then go through an excruciating delivery if they had a better option? Don´t think so. That´s why I have such trouble seeing the beauty in this! From where I´m sitting a pregnancy seems to be a fucking nightmare where your body is distorted and a god damn living thing is growing inside you! Does that sound like anything else you´ve seen? That´s right, fucking “Alien”!
And what´s this shit about everything that is a part of nature has to be beautiful? Dying is a natural part of life but we don´t stand around looking at dead women while some new age-like guy with a ponytail says that “Doesn´t she look beautiful?”
What I´m trying to say, in my not so subtle way, is that pregnancies frighten me and everything that is a part of nature isn´t beautiful. And I´m not talking about having a kid and having to take responsibility and all that shit, that´s a piece of cake! What frightens me is the fact that another human being is living and breathing inside someone´s stomach. That´s kind of creepy, if you ask me. I´ve always thought so and I think I always will find it somewhat disturbing, I´m afraid.
That´s why I´m such an easy target for a movie like “Grace”. I know that as a man in today´s enlightened society you´re not supposed to say this but I honestly can´t see myself taking part in the delivery of my child, if I ever have one. That absolutely terrifies me! That´s why “Grace” is such an effective little flick.
The movie is centered around Madeline Matheson (Jordan Ladd) is eight months pregnant and determined to deliver her unborn child, Grace, naturally. When an accident leaves Grace dead inside her, Madeline insists on carrying the baby’s corpse to term. Weeks later, when Madeline delivers, the baby miraculously returns to life…
But as you might´ve guessed, Grace is not your ordinary cooing, wonderful baby. But this is just not a re-hash of “It´s Alive” (which actually was re-hashed in a remake that was released recently but I haven´t yet seen it) because writer-director Paul Solet makes the wise decision to focus on Madeline´s descent into desperation and madness. This could´ve easily made for an unbearably boring movie but first of all Solet is equipped with a well written script, which is always a good place to start if you´re gonna make a movie, right? This is a slow burning, deeply unsettling movie that manages to keep the tension alive all through its relatively brief (85 minutes) running time.
One of the reasons why this movie works so well is Jordan Ladd. She plays basically the same kind of role that Vera Farmiga did in “Joshua” but does it so much better. I´m very grateful that she didn´t opt to go down the “screaming-in-hysterics”-route but manages to convey the demise of her sanity with much smaller and more effective gestures. If this part doesn´t get this girl some serious work, I don´t know what the hell is wrong the movie industry today. It´s time that this girl is officially appointed to one of today´s leading horror movie queens. Christ, she was in “Cabin Fever” as well! Doesn´t that count for anything nowadays?
But she´s not the only one who has got it going on in this movie: Gabrielle Rose, who plays Madeline´s mother-in-law Vivian is pretty fantastic, as well. She portrays a much more realistic version of dementia and does some pretty disturbing things, as well. During the movie she re-discovers her own femininity in some ways that I´ve never seen portrayed in a movie before.
This is very compelling film but it´s disturbing as hell! Like I said, pregnancies and deliveries creeps me out and that´s probably because I´ve spent way too much time at a much too young age watching David Cronenberg´s body-horror movies over and over again and maybe that´s why this movie resonated so well with me: Solet is obviously influenced by Cronenberg and I mean that in the best possible way. The movie starts off in a clean, sterile environment only to become increasingly filthy and squalid, just like so many Cronenberg movies do.
But guys, listen to me, honestly: do not attempt to watch this with your girl or wife if you are in one of the stages of pregnancies or have a newborn at home, ok? That won´t do you any favors, ok? Just take my word for it.
This is definitely one to check out. Just don´t go expecting a fun-filled-rollercoaster-ride-of-thrills-and-gore, ok? This isn´t exactly “Final Destination” but it´s one hell of a movie nevertheless! The thing that impressed me the most is that Solet manages to both set it up for a sequel, while finding the absolutely perfect ending to his story. I´m not gonna spoil it for you but “Grace”´s final scene is one of the most disturbing I´ve seen in a very, very long time. Very impressive!
Until next time: take scare!
Thomas