Movie Review Smile (2022)

 

Smile | 2022 | 1h 55m
Genre: Psychological Horror/Supernatural Horror/Tragedy/Horror/Mystery/Thriller | Country: US
Director: Parker Finn | Writers: Parker Finn
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner
IMDB: 6.5
My Rate: 7/10

Rose is a psychologist who is trapped in a curse that endangers her life after witnessing firsthand the gruesome death of one of her patients.

Warning:

Contains scenes of violence, suicide, alcohol, and strong language.

 

Synopsis:

Rose (Sosie Bacon) is a therapist in a psychiatric ward where her patients are not ordinary people. One day, she receives a patient named Laura (Caitlin Stasey) who previously witnessed the suicide of a professor. Laura says that she is haunted by the appearance of a figure with a terrifying smile after the incident.

Rose thinks that what Laura is experiencing is just a form of imagination due to the trauma she is feeling. Laura feels that the consultation doesn't help her at all, because Rose doesn't really want to listen to her. Until the terrifying figure appears again and makes Laura hysterical.

Rose tries to get help, but it's too late. Laura commits suicide in front of Rose by slitting her throat. The other terrifying thing is Laura's facial expression, which is filled with a wide smile as she does it.

Rose experiences trauma that she can't escape from the shadow of that incident and it disrupts her work. Her supervisor asks Rose to take a temporary leave to calm down. Unfortunately, Rose has to experience strange things that Laura told her about and feels that her life is in danger.

Will Rose survive all these shadows?

 

Review:

Smile is a longer version of the short film "Laura Hasn't Slept (2020) and is Parker Finn's feature directorial debut. Smile has a pretty interesting story idea, unfortunately, the foundation of the story isn't built well enough. There's no definitive explanation about the origin of the curse and its cause. There's a scene where Rose looks for information about it, but it doesn't present a conclusion that explains everything.

The camera movement, color composition, and effects used are pretty good. There's a pretty interesting presentation with unique camera movement, unfortunately, the effect is repeated several times and makes it a little boring. The good choice of music is also done and supports the atmosphere in each scene. There are some jumpscares that need to be watched out for.

Rather than presenting a 'ghost' with a terrifying appearance, Smile plays more with the fear that is slowly built into the psychology of the audience. The story is presented systematically and is easy to understand. Unfortunately, the development of the characters is a little lacking. There are some characters who are a little ambiguous about their connection to the main character. The chemistry of the actors is also lacking. Besides that, the ending is a little predictable.

The acting of the actors can be said to be pretty good, although there's nothing special. There are some characters that look stiff, so they're a little unbalanced with the main character. But, the expression of the main character can be said to be executed well.

There's something a little annoying about the figure of the therapist portrayed in this film. Even though in reality, we can also find therapists like that, where the therapist never really listens to their patients and seems to take their patients for granted. You can see how Rose and Madeline always dismiss any information their patients give them.

Overall, this film is still worthwhile and interesting to watch, especially for fans of psychological thrillers or horror.

 

Memorable Scene:

Rose loses her cat and finds it in a terrifying way. Where the cat is actually in the birthday present she gave her nephew. Rose, realizing this, looks truly shocked and shows complex emotions between sadness because her cat is dead and fear because of the views of those around her who think she's lunatic.

In this scene, we can see the captivating expression and acting of the main character. In this scene, we also realize that even though they are our closest people, they won't try to understand or comprehend when something outside expectations happens to us. You can see how they don't care about Rose, who looks so hysterical.

 

Memorable Dialogue:

"You can't escape your own mind, Rose."

 

Ending:

Cliffhanger

 

Recommendation:

Worth to Watch

 

(Aluna)