Incendies
Many times throughout my film viewing journey have I come across a particular movie, one praised for its twists and turns and for its depravity. Such films include Get Out and Us, <PERSON> brace of horror films, alongside other older pictures like American Psycho. But these supposed ‘shock’ thrillers that rock the viewer's world never have landed home for me, always just missing something to tip me over the edge of my seat. Incendies, on the other hand, takes a slower and more elongated approach to the tumultuous ‘shock’ twist, and sticks the landing more than any other film I have seen. Starting with a simple and consistently used premise of a will reading that sends the protagonists on a mission, Incendies strays more and more from the well-beaten-path and sharply turns into an unconventional horror of sorts. The protagonists in question, <PERSON> and <PERSON>, are introduced as children who grew up in a confusing environment, one which led the twins away from each other. But as the film carries on and a journey spanning multiple countries with differing timelines starts to come to fruition, the twins' relationship starts to build as well.
<PERSON>, who is played by <PERSON>, does an exceptionally good job at making this relationship seem mendable and fluid. 80
Her performance is the stand out of the film because her reactions to situations that are so unnatural seem so personal and understanding. <PERSON>, who portrays <PERSON>, is a completely different story. The character of <PERSON> is the least explored part of the film, just standing in the background without any real character or purpose. It almost seems as if <PERSON> was added into the film just to make one of the major twists have a resounding effect on the audience. Even so, that twist does hit harder because of the fact and its presentation to the audience allows for smoother transition into the next big faction of the story. But because of how twisty and shocking the film is, a review isn’t capable of sharing the information that makes the film what it is, so I encourage all to see it. The film, with all its flaws that branch much deeper than just <PERSON>, is well worth a viewing and can be a fun film to watch if you need something to get your heart racing a little bit. 132