Marrowbone is a better family drama that speaks much about love and kindship than a horror thriller that intimidates one for being too attached to the past.
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It is never easy for one to fully let go of one’s past, especially if it involves memories of loved ones. This is discussed in Sergio G. Sánchez’s debut feature film about a family of four siblings and how nothing and nobody can ever separate them.
Marrowbone sends an English family running to America in an attempt to hide from their cruelly disturbed father. They also took the liberty of changing their last name to Marrowbone, just so that no one will have the slightest clue of their true identities.
The first third of the film makes a safe but good exposition that establishes key characters and the new lives of the Marrowbones. The eldest sibling Jack (George MacKay) is left in charge of protecting his three younger siblings Billy (Charlie Heaton), Jane (Mia Goth) and Sam (adorable Matthew Stagg) at all cost.
This becomes the film’s cornerstone and the film’s underlying foundation – at what cost will Jack take to do his utmost duty? The pressure on Jack is taken off a little in the middle act of the film where he spends wonderful time with new family friend Allie (magnetic Anya Taylor-Joy).
Taylor-Joy makes an impressionable presence in the film but unfortunately does not have much to explore and contribute in Marrowbone due to Sánchez’s screenplay prioritisation – but it does not make her character any less significant in the story. We have seen her being capable of more in previous films like 2016’s Morgan and 2015’s The Witch.
Sánchez has a firm intention of focusing on the siblings, which is well reflected as much of the film’s 110 minutes are spent on them. It is also later revealed that this approach would accentuate the twist that Sánchez has in store for his audience.
This very twist, which meant to be the core of the film’s terror, does, however, serve as a double-edged sword that Sánchez wields proudly in the film. Twists are supposed to instill shocks that last well beyond the film’s running time. Instead, it enables Sánchez to switch genre several times and manipulate his viewers.
Is it a horror film? Is there a supernatural presence in the house? Is this a haunted house movie? Or is this about a monstrous antagonist that lurks in the new neighbourhood? These are thoughts that felt through viewers’ mind and it does sadly appear that the twist does not fully satisfy as they are quickly forgotten even before the credit roll.
It is disheartening to see promising material being denied greater potential due to inexperienced direction. Marrowbone is a better family drama that speaks much about love and kindship than a horror thriller that intimidates one for being too attached to the past.
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