When Krisha returns to her estranged family for Thanksgiving dinner, past demons threaten to ruin the festivities.
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I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Trey Edward Shults' feature film debut is a competently crafted drama that's brought to life out of almost nothing. It very much feels like a homemade video made during a family gathering, and the casual set of events that unfold in the movie only add more authenticity to it.Krisha tells the story of its titular character, an elderly woman with a troubled history who returns to her family on Thanksgiving as a reformed lady after being estranged from them for many years. But demons from her past threaten to ruin the family reunion and her own self-improved image.Written, directed & edited by Trey Edward Shults, Krisha instils a sense of foreboding from its very first frame and while it takes plenty of time to set up the whole premise, there is something sinister brewing beneath the surface at all times, and Shults is able to keep that aura alive throughout the runtime.There are plenty of long takes here, capturing casual conversations & stuff that one would expect in a social gathering yet each scene brims with a feeling that something could go wrong anytime. Performances are no slouch as Krisha Fairchild plays the eponymous old lady brilliantly and is nicely supported by others.On an overall scale, Krisha is well-crafted & firmly told but Shults takes a tad too long to switch to next gear and much of the earlier excitement fizzles away by the time earlier wounds open again. It's a good effort for a first feature and bit experimental as well but Krisha as a whole fails to leave a memorable impression. Worth a shot anyway.
Krisha goes to show how easily suckered critics are these days, its reception has left me baffled. There's no depth to this film, only the illusion of it. No 'brave new voice', just a few formal flourishes, certainly nothing stylistic you haven't already seen.There's no shade or development to Krisha's character whatsoever; despite the best efforts of the actor, we leave the film knowing the same information about her as when we began. When there is neither plot or character progression (certainly not prerequisites for good cinema in my book) a film has to arrest the viewer with something else. In this case, if viewing a sustained single note of miserablism is what thrills you, it's right here, knock yourself out.Personally, I found the dread tone and nausea effective for around thirty minutes, at which point I wanted more. I wanted to watch A Woman Under the Influence and Festen again.
I really wanted to like this film. I commend the filmmakers in trying to make a film that is different and relatable.The opening scene is inexplicably haunting. It is the sound of death and the face of a woman with pain and heartbreak and loss seared in her face, looking ready for death. And then the film starts and it is about Krisha coming to visit for Thanksgiving dinner. The whole film is based on that 1 or 2 days. I give the film 10/10 for atmosphere. It really builds up an expectation of something that will happen. But nothing really happens. I mean sure, it would be interesting for the family if this was a real-life event. But for a outside viewer, we need more darker secrets and twists. Otherwise it just seems like a Thanksgiving dinner in a slightly more dysfunctional family than most. But meh.. it's hardly breathtaking.So well done filmmakers for starting the film well and giving a good atmosphere. And the cast are fantastic. But this film needs a remake with a different middle and ending and it could then be something really amazing.
Krisha, Trey Edward Shults' feature film debut, showed up at last year's Spirit Award screenings as well as this year's Gotham's Audience Awards. It's a very low-budget affair shot at Shults' parents home, with most of his family members and friends playing a fictional, dysfunctional family. The protagonist is also named Krisha, played by Shults' aunt in real life. His actual mother plays Krisha's sister and Shults himself plays Krisha's son.Incredibly, on Metacritic there are 27 positive reviews and only one mixed. Most of the critics were captivated by Shults' aunt's performance (her full name is Krisha Fairchild). When we first meet her, she hasn't been back at her sister's home in ten years, and initially ends up ringing the neighbor's doorbell by mistake.When Krisha finally wanders into the right house, we can tell right away there is something wrong with her by the reaction of the various family members, who appear to regard her with contempt. In many ways, Krisha is a black comedy (or farce), as Shults depicts the family members as passive-aggressive, doing their best to put on a good face towards an absentee relative who deep down is regarded (except by an almost senile grandmother) as a complete pariah.Krisha earns the family's contempt by her neurotic, self-destructive attitude, fueled by pills that she keeps hidden in a small locked box marked "private." It's alcohol, however, that pushes Krisha over the edge, and the family's passivity suddenly goes by the wayside when Krisha drops the Thanksgiving turkey on the kitchen floor (after continuously offering to help prepare the big bird, before it's served).Shults is more interested in depicting the humor of the family breakdown than making a case for the embattled Krisha, whose neuroticism is probably beyond any therapeutic assistance or repair. Thus all the sordid dysfunctional family members (including Krisha) live up to master critic Eric Bentley's dictum: that in farce, one is "permitted the outrage, without the consequences."The problem with all this is that Shults tips his hand very early as to what's going on. We "get" the idea just how neurotic Krisha is, and her exploits aren't very surprising (or humorous) after a while. The climax, which features the one-note humor of an extremely neurotic family member returning from exile--who sets off the relatives who banished her years ago--is not only predictable but not very consequential, in terms of the kind of humor we can expect from a more seasoned farcical script.I admire Shults for getting his project off the ground (especially by raising a nominal $14,000 via a Kickstarter campaign) but Krisha is nothing more than an exercise in "low stakes." Next time, hopefully, the fledgling director will aim for higher heights with both well-developed characters and a more clever plot, featuring substantially more humorous situations.