Plot: A young girl finds solace in her artist father and the ghost of her dead mother.
So I finally had the fortune or misfortune of watching Separation and I feel like I should've waited for a streaming service.
What Separation lacks in originality, somewhat makes up for in creepy visuals. The writing is weak and a lot of stuff ends up not making much sense, feeling out of place or way obvious. Separation is a frustrating affair, mostly because the trailers made it look so intriguing and the final cut is an ineffective ghost fest. There's some creativeness here and there, mostly with the supernatural entities who look like hellish puppets, but unfortunately, there's no suspense, no build up or stakes for that matter. Doesn't help that the film wastes so much of its screentime on pointless subplots. We have the relationship between father-and-daughter, we have the troubled relationship between a married couple on the verge of divorce, we have the father and babysitter relationship, we have a custody battle, we have the tense relationship between father and his father-in-law, and so on, you get the point right? So many stories thrown together, but there's no real focus on either, making this a drag to sit through. The movie can't make up its mind on what the focus should be. Hell, my 15-year-old nephew didn't like this and this is mostly aimed at teenagers.
I feel like a 15 minute trim would've helped with the sluggish pace at times. There's no reason this should've been almost two hours. This is not Avengers. What is up with movies feeling the need to overstay their welcome lately? This story could've concluded in 90 minutes top.
The cast is what kept me focused as this is the film's strongest point. Rupert Friend (Starred Up), Mamie Gummer (The Ward), Brian Cox (The Ring), and Madeline Brewer (Cam) deserve so much better than this but they all held their parts fair well. Especially Mr. Cox who lit the screen with his presence every time he was on-screen. Violet McGraw (The Haunting Of Hill House) for me was annoying at times but she did well.
Consensus: wait for this to be on Netflix.
Watch the trailer:
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