Reawakening: Admirable B-Movie Melodrama
John and Mary have lived with desolating grief and the agony of uncertainty for the past ten years. Their only child, Clare, ran away from home when she was fourteen and no trace of her whereabouts has ever been found. When Clare returns, now a young woman of twenty-four, Mary is overjoyed. But John comes to believe that Clare is not who she claims to be. As old tensions resurface, a gripping search for the truth unfolds.1
It’s amazing what you can do with almost a million pound. Buy a house almost anywhere in the country. Go on a number of luxury holidays. Donate to charities close to your heart. The uses are near infinite.
If you’re insane there’s only one option: make the film you always wanted to. That’s what I’d do anyway.
It’s Virginia Gilbert’s choice also. There’s not much about her online but her IMDb and LinkedIn pages say she’s held many roles in the media industry. Producer, writer, director, novelist even. She specialises in low-budget dramas and TV documentaries.
Her latest project, Reawakening, is in the former category.
It’s an oddly gripping melodrama with distinct B-movie qualities. Jared Harris (Chernobyl) carries the film but he can’t stop it from overstaying its welcome.
That B-movie feel is immediately obvious: shots are washed out and composed safely. Cheap set design 2 and minimal costumes make for monotonous scenes. Supporting cast performances are decidedly second-rate.
It’s been made for peanuts but as soon as you accept that it becomes much easier to enjoy. To Gilbert’s credit she does write a gripping story. I was surprised by how much I was engaged at times. Jared Harris’ performance helped enormously: a likeable everyman character made sympathetic yet volatile.
His costars, Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) and Erin Doherty (Adolescence) aren’t as impressive.
Stevenson’s reserved, stilted performance doesn’t work. Doherty is one-note and reduces her character to a twitchy ball of nerves. They both struggle with clunky dialogue at times but its no excuse for the poor choices they both make. God help them when they share a scene with Harris, who dominates the frame with an undeniable charisma.
Reawakening’s strength lies in the first half. Gilbert takes time to set up life as the Reeds know it, allowing us to empathise deeply. The film plays on the mystery and psychological torment of its premise to good effect, but as soon as we get into the second half this intrigue dissipates. A combination of trite performance and writing make it obvious what direction the plot will take.
There came two points in this act that I was convinced would be the end of the film. Neither proved to be.
Gilbert takes an age getting to the end of her story and undermines her central theme: the value of truth versus the value of belief. It would benefit this examination to make the audience experience something similar. Gilbert insists on giving us definitive answers and watering down her thesis.
There’s something to enjoy in Reawakening, especially if you love independent cinema from Ireland and the UK or Jared Harris. Don’t expect much and it may be worth a watch.
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