Under the Shadow Review | VIFF 2016

<p>We were all witnesses to the horror renaissance of the 2010s&period; We can always pray for another <em>It Follows <&sol;em>or <em>The Babadook<&sol;em>&period; If <em>Under the Shadow <&sol;em>happened to have taught me anything&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s that I shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t get my hopes up on word of mouth&period; Babak Anvari&&num;8217&semi;s directorial debut is an intelligent film underneath the weak horror elements&period; Anvari calls upon historical issues that add another layer not seen in many horror films&period; But due to the amateurish use of jump scares and weak character motivation&comma; Anvari loses control of the film before it&&num;8217&semi;s able to fully impress under both genre labels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Under the Shadow <&sol;em>sets itself in post-revolution Tehran in the 1980s&period; Shideh &lpar;Narges Rashidi&rpar; attempts to go back to medical school after becoming wrapped up in the activism of the &lpar;then&rpar; war-stricken Tehran&period; Due to her involvement with the Government opposition&comma; she is denied entry and must remain a stay-at-home mom&period; Her husband Iraj &lpar;Bobby Naderi&rpar; as a doctor is the breadwinner of the family and this leaves Shideh helpless and alone in a land that has no room for women outside of being caregivers&period; To make matters worse&comma; Iraj is drafted to the military for a 3 month contract in an area of heavy fighting&period; This leaves Shideh to take care of their daughter&comma; Dorsa &lpar;Avin Manshadi&rpar; on her own&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114563" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114563" style&equals;"width&colon; 930px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114563 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;22190607&sol;under-the-shadow-sundance-film-festival-final&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Under the Shadow&comma; Netflix&rpar;" width&equals;"930" height&equals;"465" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114563" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Under the Shadow<&sol;em>&comma; Wigwam Films&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Small character moments make the first half of <em>Under the Shadow <&sol;em>work&period; The central performance from Narges Rashidi is what carries the dramatic tension into the uneven last half of the film&period; Rashidi subtly informs her performance with insecurity and frustration as a mother at the end of her rope&period; The moments between Dorsa and Shideh are mostly full of stress and anxiety&period; Between looking for a missing doll and the mysterious boy living upstairs&comma; Shideh has to deal with the nightmares of her daughter due to the mystical Djinn&period; Of course&comma; Shideh doesn&&num;8217&semi;t believe her daughter and denies it until a variety a jump scares change her mind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A number of horror films this year have done a good job setting up their films in order to lose all creativity by the time the horror aspect kicks in&period; A jump scare is inherent to the horror genre&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s no excuse for that to be the only trick in the directorial arsenal that should be used&period; Momentous silence and then a loud piercing noise does not count as something horrific&comma; just something cheap&period; Anvari could learn from that&period; Due to these moments which the last half are filled with&comma; all intelligence and dramatic heft is forgotten and left behind for the easy way out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114564" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114564" style&equals;"width&colon; 928px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114564 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;22190704&sol;000063&period;1674&period;16187&lowbar;undertheshadow&lowbar;still2&lowbar;avinmanshadi&lowbar;&lowbar;bykitfraser-&lowbar;h&lowbar;2016&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Under the Shadow&comma; Netflix&rpar;" width&equals;"928" height&equals;"523" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114564" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Under the Shadow<&sol;em>&comma; Wigwam Films&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Anvari should be commended for giving <em>Under the Shadow <&sol;em>dramatic depth with a story like the one it has&period; The film feels historically accurate with the use of the bomb shelters and tape along the windows&period; Shideh comes across men in the city and makes sure to cover up&period; She has to hide her VCR and Jane Fonda workout tapes&period; No reference is wasted and they never feel cheap&period; Some of those jump scares I hate are actually pretty clever considering the use of the time period&period; There is a ton of creative possibilities working with this time period and location&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s just a shame it was all wasted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;