Film review: Agnes is two movies for the price of nun
Come for the horror-comedy, keep for the psychological drama
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’Tis the season for bizarre nun films, I suppose. December has already seen the discharge of Benedetta , Paul Verhoeven’s based-in-truth story of a Seventeenth-century lesbian nun. It felt tonally inconsistent – shades of excessive camp amid the historic drama – however it’s obtained nothing on Agnes .
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Director and co-writer Mickey Reece’s new movie begins in comic-horror territory earlier than a mid-plot switcheroo that introduces a bunch of latest characters and a extra dramatic tone. However provided that a type of newcomers (Sean Gunn) is a stand-up comedian, the humour continues, after a vogue.
The result’s unlikely to please most viewers. Come for the horror – and the poster, with its upside-down crucifix and dripping blood, guarantees as a lot – and also you’re more likely to discover the second half a little bit of a drag. Be ready for the psychological drama that I assure is coming, and also you’ve obtained a protracted wait earlier than that hand is even dealt, not to mention its payoff.
The movie’s second half is each the quietest and the strongest a part of the story, as Sister Mary (Molly C. Quinn) decides to go away the convent the place an exorcism happened. Out on this planet, she finds it arduous to attach with folks and even to make ends meet. Her landlord raises the hire after his spouse suspects Mary is paying for a part of it in intercourse (she isn’t), whereas her boss on the grocery store makes an identical proposition concerning her wages.
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And the primary half – properly, it’s a enjoyable little bit of zaniness, because the cynical and disgraced Father Donaghue (Ben Corridor) investigates a attainable demonic possession at a convent, regardless of calling exorcism “one of the crucial elaborate track and dance acts the world has ever seen.” He’s accompanied by Benjamin (Jake Horowitz), a younger acolyte whose beauty are a distraction to Sister Honey (Zandy Hartig).
And the unusual leap within the center? Properly, provided that the faith on which that is primarily based has as its holy e book a tome whose first half was written between 1200 and 200 BC, and its second (with model new characters) at the very least 300 years after that – properly, at the very least there’s precedent.
Agnes opens Dec. 10 in Toronto and Vancouver, and on demand.
2.5 stars out of 5
