SUNDANCE REVIEW – “Resurrection”

Resurrection follows the story of Margaret (Rebecca Hall) who leads a successful and extremely orderly life. She seemingly achieves both the high demands of her career and being a single mother to her teenage daughter Abbie, who is fiercely independent and defiant. However, one day, a man named David (Tim Roth) appears back in her life. We don’t know immediately what connection David has with Margaret, but it’s evident from the get-go that it isn’t pretty. She tries to let it go at first, but too many “coincidences” happen where she seems him in public – and she ends up spiraling about the safety of her and her daughter now that he has returned.

Rebecca Hall is quickly turning into one of my favorite actors working today. And I think that was cemented with 2021’s The Night House, which is thematically very similar to Resurrection. Both showcase absolutely phenomenal performances from Rebecca Hall, but deal with themes of psychological dismay. If The Night House put those themes on-screen through the horror genre, I think Resurrection approaches them with the thriller genre.

Writer-director Andrew Semans does a really nice job behind the camera. On a technical level, this film is nearly perfect with great cinematography and fluid editing that gives it almost a dream-like quality. At times, however, I thought the script lacked a certain punch – especially the closer we get to the third act of it all. I found that the more that the plot unraveled and we got to peak behind the curtain of not only what was actually going on but what the film was trying to say, it felt a bit hollow. However, I think Rebecca Hall’s performance really holds this entire movie together. It doesn’t excuse my issues with the film, but this is one of those rare times where it truly does make a film worth watching.

3/5