Hokum

Hokum immediately pulls you into the world with the writers' (Ohm Bauman) journey through writing the epilogue of his latest novel. The symmetry parallels between his life with the red ring in the sand being mirrored by the ring of condensation from his glass of whiskey. These parallels manifest in more ways and with greater impact as the movie progresses which I loved. The core of the movie is spent learning about Ohm, his character, what makes him so irritable, what inspired his writing. He heads to Ireland, the last known location where his parents were happy. He seeks to set them (ashes), and himself free. We're gently introduced to supernatural elements here via a tale of folklore from the miserly hotel proprietor. The horror elements begin to be sprinkled in fairly slowly, keeping you on edge, waiting for the shoe to drop. You're left feeling unsettled, like sitting at the top of a drof of doom ride. As you struggle with this feeling of unease we get a deeper sense of the character and everything starts clicking into place. The epilogue was a analogy of his own life, his struggles with alcohol, his hatred of his childhood self and the cynical look at his present self (could also be viewed as his father and his younger self). When that idea connected in my mind it elevated the movie for me due to how cleanly that was delivered. Adam Scott is great in the film and it's well written with entertaining supporting characters. It does stumble in certain moments, and skirts past explanation in others but the story telling, the eerie music, the tension was all great and make it well worth a watch.