{"id":28294,"date":"2018-06-19T16:51:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T20:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28294"},"modified":"2018-06-19T21:10:51","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T01:10:51","slug":"hereditary-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/19\/hereditary-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Hereditary (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The first time I was ever introduced to the work of Ari Aster was in 2010 when I watched his demented short \u201cThe Strange Thing About the Johnsons.\u201d Much like \u201cHereditary,\u201d it\u2019s a very disturbing tale that focuses on a family and a heinous secret among the family that threatens to consume them whole. My words do the short no justice. \u201cHereditary\u201d is very much in that vein, exploring the terror of mental illness, the idea of manifest destiny, the inescapable fate of inherited disease, and how overbearing and abusive loved ones can keep their power over us long after they\u2019ve passed away.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHereditary\u201d is unlike any other narrative in that the minute we meet the Graham family, they\u2019re less the center of the story, and more instruments of events that unfold. This adds to the elements of lack of free will that is recurring in \u201cHereditary.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we meet Annie Graham, she\u2019s the obsessive maker of miniatures whose immense talent is transforming in to a bonafide profession, and much like her models, her life begins to play out among what may be a life that\u2019s being manipulated by unseen forces. While what\u2019s happening to the Graham family is insidious, what\u2019s even worse is that the threat of mental illness threatens to consume this already rocky family whose foundation will add to their demise if they\u2019re not careful. After Annie\u2019s mother Ellen passes away, she and her family attend her funeral, still somewhat mystified by what happened during her last days on Earth. After a terrible past with her dad and brother, Annie attempts to make sense of her mother who she barely knew and kept her daughter Charlie close by. Once the confrontation of their mother\u2019s death presents itself, the reality around the family begins to unravel, particularly for Ellen.<\/p>\n

A lot of \u201cHereditary\u201d explores the trauma and psychological disorders that can be passed on from generation to generation, and how much of a burden that can be. Annie is particularly a woman unprepared for what she\u2019s facing and her reaction to what she tries to control and what she fails to control is compelling. Aster derives brilliant performances from his entire cast including Alex Wolff, Joanne Dowd, and Milly Shapiro. Toni Collette, ion particular, is riveting, presenting a beautiful turn as a woman struggling to make sense of something that may have absolutely no rhyme or reason. Director and writer Aster unfolds his story\u2019s elements intricately with thick ambiguity injected in every scene and every bit of secret that the characters begin to dig up. Aster presents the unearthing of these secrets as inevitabilities and asks the audience to ultimately decide if what we\u2019re watching is the realization of pure evil, or the culmination of generations of mental disorders thrust on to these characters.<\/p>\n

While pure evil manifested in the flesh is horrifying, the senseless and unforgiving nature of mental illness deteriorating all of our senses and making us a danger is just as scary. There\u2019s always a sense of motion and unease in every frame of \u201cHereditary,\u201d and Aster thrives on keeping the audience squirming in their seats through the duration. He relies a lot on delayed shocks and while \u201cHereditary\u201d excels as a disturbing horror film, it\u2019s also a gripping take on familial dysfunction and the fear of one becoming what they despise most. \u201cHereditary\u201d is destined to be a classic for film lovers that delight in exploring and dissecting horror cinema that also looks in to the human condition.<\/p>\n