Never Let Go (2024)

Never Let Go (2024):  I'm quite puzzled by the ratings, they're like for a mediocre film/ or were people's expectations too high ? It seems that is a "way too much thinking and speculation" film, that's why it flopped.

Halle Berry was before in horror in Gothika (a bad thriller, d. by Mathieu Kassovitz, 2003), this is the second time she works with a French director.

Alexandre Aja is a very stylish horrormeister, he shot two films in Romania, Haute Tension and Mirrors, then he made it to the big league in the US with creepy remke to The Hills Have Eyes, the fun fun Piranha 3D remake, the crocodile fare Crawl, the weird one Horns, He is the son of director Alexandre Arcady. His last film before NLG, Oxygene, shot during the pandemic, went on to stream on Netflix.

NLG is also a gimmicky film, sure you got that, and I'm not gonna spoil anything here but the gimmick it's in the style of mr. Twist and Shout M. Night Shayamalan, (The Village, Knock on Cabin), just that the drama and it's subtler and darker.  The writers, Ryan Grassby and KC Coughlin wrote  The King's Tide, which is still on my "to see" list. The film was then titled "Mother Land". Woud've loved that title much more.

A big plus of NLG is the superb acting of Halle Berry (again taking on a risquee part, it's her film after all, she produced it too) and the two kids, Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV). There is a twist on the Abel and Cain story here too. And on Hansel & Gretel, for all that matters. References to Grimm and Anderson's dark fairy tales are on the screen for you to see. And judge. 

Opening credits roll a la The Shining, the music score by ROB is dense and thrilling (his third score for Aja after Horns and Oxygene) and you'll never hear "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" (the 1928 bluesy song by Harry McClintock, that was also in O Brother Where Art Tho ?), again the same way. 

Aja's old collaborators are there, Maxime Alexandre as DOP  (in widescreen 2.11.1 by Alexa digital), and Gregory Levasseur (his buddy screenwriter), now as the director of the Second Unit. NLG was shot in British Columbia, in the wilderness of the woods.

And the dog, Koda (Brass), is worth a Palme Dog ;)

To be seen in a theater (the soundscape is fantastic and the photography it's just beautiful).

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5