‘Run Rabbit Run’ movie review: Sarah Snook does a lot for a movie that does little for her

A scene from ‘Run Rabbit Run’ | photo credits: XYZ Films

Australian filmmaker Diana Reid must either be a fan of Stephen King or Glazed, or both. his latest feature, run rabbit runStephen King’s literary features as well as genre features Glazed, or at least, run rabbit run reminds you of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, especially the way Reed exploited the twin sisters motif from the play Glazed, Although run rabbit run It has nothing to do with the twins, it has a subplot involving two child actors who play two different characters; At one point, it takes a moment to recognize who plays what. Because child actors look like mirrors. Reid gets the casting right, and run rabbit run largely benefits from its actors.

that’s not all to say run rabbit run Either way a great job. The screenplay comes across like the work of a horror film fan who has seen all the great works of classical horror and yet, lacks clarity. Reid seems to have clarity In college in elements of the genre and a premise that benefits by stacking the odds against its protagonist. There is no emotional depth and neither do the characters seem real.

run rabbit run Starts off pretty well: Sarah (Sarah Snook), a fertility doctor, lives with her daughter, Mia (Lily Latour), who has just turned seven. Sarah recently lost her father, with whom she was closest, and learns that her estranged husband Pete and his partner are trying for a baby. “Mia was going to be an only child. I thought we had agreed on it,” she hits back at her ex-husband. Around this time, Sarah comes home to find an unusual gift for Mia waiting for them – a rabbit with blood-red eyes. At the same time, Mia starts behaving strangely and is getting worse by the day.

There is a lot that goes against Sara and obviously it is. The unwritten rule in psychological horror is that the protagonist feels a sense of suffocation from his immediate reality. So, let’s dump everything in it.

When the elements of style begin, the first part run rabbit run Pleasant enough, giving us a false promise that something deep is going to happen in the latter half. Sadly, it doesn’t quite come together. Even when the film tries to create a mood, something doesn’t work or is just wrong about the way Reed imagines horror and suspense.

the winds are always rough run rabbit run, Its audio cues almost never complement the visuals. So much so that when you watch the film on mute, the audio description does a better job of telling us what kind of horror Reid is aiming for. The audio description always goes: ominous score, ominous music, disturbing score, disturbing voices. Mia wears a paper rabbit mask. These are all derivatives, hardly any are original. We definitely get attached to him as the film progresses; That is one thing run rabbit run can be proud of. But with time, the narrative becomes tiresome and repetitive as if we are stuck in a time loop.

Written by Hannah Kent, run rabbit run Hints about Sara, her equation with her father and relationship with her mother. We learn all this through Mia. There’s a big reveal about Sara that isn’t hard to guess, but one that the film saves until the very end. The problem with Kent’s screenplay is the narrative lag and lack of emotional clarity: when Mia exhibits strange behavior at a later point – when she goes by a different name – it becomes a film about two sisters when it really is. Would have made a good watch if it was about Sara and Mia. it Even then Is. but run rabbit run In the end, Sara’s story becomes a story with a few simple solutions.

run rabbit run There is a powerful set of images: a girl in a tunnel with a rabbit mask, a girl locked in a wardrobe, and a woman lying by a river. These are tempting, but because you feel numb looking at them, you’re not sure exactly what to make of the film.

run rabbit runwas screened at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival 2023