Initial plan was to check latest "Aladin" but I discovered that this movie just opened and decided to surprise my work colleague with something completely unexpected - my plan worked out perfectly, because I distracted her well enough that she didn't even realise we are not going in the cinema where we were supposed to meet but around the corner in completely different place and I warned her not to look on the posters and signs, so basically she entered the cinema hall completely unaware what exactly we are going to see. It turned out a perfect surprise, because movie was good, old fashioned fun and we both enjoyed it very much.
Director Tate Taylor and famous actress Octavia Spencer knew each other for the long time so they both enjoyed doing something completely off the wall - celebrated as she is, Spencer did found herself pigeonholed in certain kind of roles so the offer to do a horror/thriller was obviously a welcome step out of routine. She has enough of screen presence to carry the whole movie on her shoulders and honestly we are enjoying the movie as long as she is the main focus - nobody else comes close to her charisma, although both Juliette Lewis and Luke Evans are solid actors, but we are here for Spencer. Sorry guys. I have read very interesting article in "The Guardian" where author discussed the roles of black women in US movies, often sidetracked as servants and "mammy" which he says is complete fiction because in real life these women were far from being so close and familiar with their owners - perhaps I wasn't paying attention, but I don't remember when was the last time I saw black actress as a main antagonist in a mainstream movie and the best of all is that Spencer is such a great actress that this completely don't matter - she is important and interesting for her acting, a fabulous actress period. This was actually kind of role that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford used to chew on the screen and Spencer is right next to them, enjoying every minute.
The movie itself is a silly and very entertaining in a way movies sometimes get - from time to time its completely fine to enjoy something that was not made as pretentious and serious, life-changing experience but fun for the sake of fun. Spencer is a mysterious, lonely veterinary technician (who apparently lives alone) who help some teenagers getting liquor and even befriends them, suggesting they can use her basement to party, instead of drinking hidden in bushes and such. Kids are silly as teenagers often are, excited with freedom of having their own space and they quickly embrace "Ma" as one of them, without asking any questions. Eventually things start to get really creepy because "Ma" clearly has her own agenda and she has ulterior motives behind smiling facade - the way she manipulates these kids leads to grand finale where she is presented as truly deranged and dangerous maniac but director also makes sure that we feel just a tiny bit of sympathy for her character and we understand why she became like this. Spencer has a wonderful time being serious killer and you can tell she loved it - the audience in cinema was giggling away during nastiest scenes of murder and mayhem, which made me wonder who are these people around me, but honestly it was great fun and obviously nobody took it seriously, we all understand this is not real, just cinematic fantasy. We left cinema in great spirits and laughed along the way. Campy, good natured fun.
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