Direction: Kate Dolan
Country: UK
In her feature debut, writer-director Kate Dolan presents a suspenseful horror film whose coming of age linkage comes tempered with balanced doses of familiarity and originality, and characters to whom you could relate. This grim yet soberly discrete possession account is set in North Dublin and takes shape one week prior to Halloween.
The very first scenes, however, take us to a freakish ritual in the woods involving a baby girl and her opaque grandmother, Rita (Ingrid Craigie). Then the story is brought forward in time and the baby, Char (Hazel Doupe), is now a bullied teen who is frequently struck by uncanny dreams about her odd, depressive mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken). After vanishing without a trace, the latter returns a few days later with an ever weirder and scarier behavior. Is grandmother responsible for all this? We ask ourselves.
Dolan’s supernatural magnetism is augmented by the bullying topic, showing a genuine care for human feelings that is rarely found in the genre. Though the controlled shocks are well conveyed, it's the family bond that lingers, and the results don’t disappoint. The tension cranks up to frightening levels thanks to an adequate atmosphere and solid performances, but You Are Not My Mother is much at its best when playing with subtleness. The pleasures here are not gory or frenzy but rather quiet chilly vibes that should equally resonate with horror film fans.
