Possum is a story about a puppeteer named Phillip (played by Sean Harris, a remarkably underrated actor that I first saw in Harry Brown).
More to the point, it's a harrowing and deeply surreal story about murder and child abuse, along with all the unfathomable horrors that come along with those topics.
Phillip returns to his hometown to visit his Uncle Maurice (Alun Armstrong), bringing along a bag containing a disgusting spider-like puppet with him. Maurice lives in a dillapidated, bleak and damaged house and maintains a bizarre, cruel relationship with Phillip.
Phillip is an incredibly sad, child-like and submissive man. This is especially the case around Maurice, from whom he meekly accepts directives as if he has no free will of his own.
For most of the entire run-time of the film, Phillip attempts to dispose of the revolting puppet (which apparently somehow ruined his career working with children as well). However, it survives all attempts to destroy it and keeps returning unharmed.
This begins to completely defy all logic and it becomes clear that Phillip is a very unreliable protagonist and narrator. The film feels very experimental in this regard, often appearing at times like huge segments of the story may be entirely occurring inside Phillip's head.
Alun Armstrong's performance in this film is remarkable, to the point that I found his vile behaviour at the end of the film left me feeling genuinely shocked and sickened.
He is so far from his nerdy, kindly cop character from "New Tricks" that it's completely jarring, and it makes him a perfect casting for one of the most repulsive characters I've seen in a film.
I feel like upon watching Possum again, I will appreciate it more, as it is very layered and surreal. I do have criticisms, however.
It's a very slow, drawn-out film to the point that it almost feels that nothing really happens until the last ten minutes. I can imagine less patient viewers might grow bored with the glacial pacing and repeated locations.
It's also relentlessly, remorselessly BLEAK. Even Phillip's "triumph" and good deed at the end of the film feels hollow; he is so damaged, his trauma is so deep, that it feels like a Pyrrhic victory.
Interestingly, I didn't really find the film "scary" in a traditional horror way. It's more like it's disturbing material, if that makes sense. It felt to me that overall, the film is not so much trying to scare you like a classical horror flick. Instead it's about communicating the awfulness of a taboo social problem.
However, I still feel the film is overall very good. It deals with some incredibly dark material and does so fearlessly. The ending especially shows the despicable, truly ugly side of abusers in a grotesque realistic way that I haven't seen any other film approach so boldly.
If you go into it expecting some monster movie or a slasher film or such nonsense you will be disappointed. As a remarkably dark, slow building character drama the film is very well constructed.
More to the point, it's a harrowing and deeply surreal story about murder and child abuse, along with all the unfathomable horrors that come along with those topics.
Phillip returns to his hometown to visit his Uncle Maurice (Alun Armstrong), bringing along a bag containing a disgusting spider-like puppet with him. Maurice lives in a dillapidated, bleak and damaged house and maintains a bizarre, cruel relationship with Phillip.
Phillip is an incredibly sad, child-like and submissive man. This is especially the case around Maurice, from whom he meekly accepts directives as if he has no free will of his own.
For most of the entire run-time of the film, Phillip attempts to dispose of the revolting puppet (which apparently somehow ruined his career working with children as well). However, it survives all attempts to destroy it and keeps returning unharmed.
This begins to completely defy all logic and it becomes clear that Phillip is a very unreliable protagonist and narrator. The film feels very experimental in this regard, often appearing at times like huge segments of the story may be entirely occurring inside Phillip's head.
Alun Armstrong's performance in this film is remarkable, to the point that I found his vile behaviour at the end of the film left me feeling genuinely shocked and sickened.
He is so far from his nerdy, kindly cop character from "New Tricks" that it's completely jarring, and it makes him a perfect casting for one of the most repulsive characters I've seen in a film.
I feel like upon watching Possum again, I will appreciate it more, as it is very layered and surreal. I do have criticisms, however.
It's a very slow, drawn-out film to the point that it almost feels that nothing really happens until the last ten minutes. I can imagine less patient viewers might grow bored with the glacial pacing and repeated locations.
It's also relentlessly, remorselessly BLEAK. Even Phillip's "triumph" and good deed at the end of the film feels hollow; he is so damaged, his trauma is so deep, that it feels like a Pyrrhic victory.
Interestingly, I didn't really find the film "scary" in a traditional horror way. It's more like it's disturbing material, if that makes sense. It felt to me that overall, the film is not so much trying to scare you like a classical horror flick. Instead it's about communicating the awfulness of a taboo social problem.
However, I still feel the film is overall very good. It deals with some incredibly dark material and does so fearlessly. The ending especially shows the despicable, truly ugly side of abusers in a grotesque realistic way that I haven't seen any other film approach so boldly.
If you go into it expecting some monster movie or a slasher film or such nonsense you will be disappointed. As a remarkably dark, slow building character drama the film is very well constructed.
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