Prisoners

Jake Gyllenhaal double feature 2/2 Clearly Denis Villeneuve was being tormented by something revolving around the human spirit and psyche because releasing Incendies, Enemy and Prisoners in succession while all being inside a 3 year span makes some already wildly intense material expressions feel far more urgent, even personal which I don’t even think was the goal for something like this. I remember coming to this a few years behind everyone else and just being flooded, I’ve probably revisited about once a year for 4-5 years now. I’m learning that there is a not small sections of movie fans that are adamant in their belief that this is some overwrought, all too neat by the end of its runtime, obtuse morality examination that relies on some common genre tropes; I’ll say right now that I’m absolutely NOT in that category of people, this to me is completely sensational and I lose myself in the sheer panic almost instantly no matter how many times I see it. Razor sharp craft, somehow able to make your blood boil at every turn while doing some of the most effective stringing along you’ll find inside of a true unraveling. Every fabric of these specific individuals are pushed to their absolute limits and everything funnels off these performances, the commitment at every level is jaw dropping. I’m not sure I can recall a more convincing example of pure desperation coming to the surface in various ways that all feel so authentic. Pure erosion taking place while frantically trying to maintain any semblance of control, something that feels impossible to lose this quickly until it happens right before your entire community in this case. First collaboration between Rodger Deakins and Denis Villeneuve with Sicario and BR 2049 following this and my goodness, I don’t think you’ll find a more satisfying display of stark suburbia that flips into hell and does it with ease. You start with this softer backdrop and suspect nothing, after the inciting incident the weather becomes almost a biblical level of an obstacle but it’s seamless. The blue light on Gyllenhaal has me wanting to cry it’s so beautiful, just an unbelievably satisfying combination of talent and a relentless tone that I could relish in forever.