{"id":35663,"date":"2021-08-16T20:02:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T00:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=35663"},"modified":"2021-08-16T20:02:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T00:02:29","slug":"the-last-thing-mary-saw-2021-fantasia-film-festival-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/16\/the-last-thing-mary-saw-2021-fantasia-film-festival-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Writer\/director Edoardo Vitaletti\u2019s debut feature, The Last Thing Mary Saw is a horror drama that promises to be one of the most polarizing films of the year. It\u2019s a return to the rising resurgence of folk horror much in the vein of \u201cThe Witch<\/a>\u201d and \u201cMidsommar<\/a>\u201d but explores the more relevant ideas about religious oppression, sexual oppression, and the perils of the love between two young girls, which becomes increasingly dangerous over the course of the narrative.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Set in the winter of 1843, we meet Mary (Stefanie Scott), a young woman being questioned over the death of her family\u2019s matriarch (Judith Roberts). She takes us back before the events which she witnessed, telling a story of her love affair with housemaid Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman), the harsh reaction from her deeply religious family, and the horrors which fear of the unknown or the misunderstood can create.<\/p>\n

Edoardo Vitaletti doesn\u2019t pull any punches when depicting this world run by religious doctrines that control everyone through fear, manipulation, and outright violence. Much of the narrative unfolds within the realm of this small farm, run by a family of aristocrats. They\u2019re very much confined to their own house, and spend much of their time eliciting fear and violence toward anyone that steps out of line. Their enigmatic matriarch spends much of her time in her chair dictating many of the punishments doled out, and they\u2019re dealt quite zealously toward Mary and Eleanor. Vitaletti\u2019s depiction of torture through religious doctrines is painful and disturbing as he begins the film with both girls being forced to recite prayers while kneeling on rice.<\/p>\n

We learn that this punishment is meant to quell their inner most desires, as both girls have engaged in a very taboo romance. The passion they feel for one another is often impossible to notice, but Mary plans to take Eleanor and escape their family all with the help of a local care taker. But things prove much more difficult than they can imagine as paranoia strikes their family, and various twists reveal them to various people in their family. What might make \u201cThe Last Thing Mary Saw\u201d polarizing is the absolutely glacial pacing. Vitaletti very slowly and intricately unravels his narrative setting the characters in position and establishing the tragic (often sweet) chemistry between Mary and Eleanor. Once I settled in to the narrative, the pacing gradually became less troublesome, especially since the character work is so engaging.<\/p>\n

Co-stars Stefanie Scott and Isabelle Fuhrmnan are wonderful in their respective roles, portraying girls of different shades who decide they must flee together or they just may die trying. Along with Vitaletti\u2019s fantastic direction, there\u2019s some very thick drama that ensues that I was completely engrossed in. The primary problem of the film beyond the pacing is the ambiguity of the film\u2019s central villain. There\u2019s not a ton of explanation as to what\u2019s occurring, and he ends the film on a single frame that doesn\u2019t resolve or explain too much, sadly. That said, \u201cThe Last Thing Mary Saw\u201d is a richly drawn, and beautifully acted period piece that mixes folk horror with very modern themes, and I hope it\u2019s welcomed and embraced by the film community.<\/p>\n

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs every year, and this year runs virtually from August 5th until August 25th.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writer\/director Edoardo Vitaletti\u2019s debut feature, The Last Thing Mary Saw is a horror drama that promises to be one of the most polarizing films of the year. It\u2019s a return to the rising resurgence of folk horror much in the vein of \u201cThe Witch\u201d and \u201cMidsommar\u201d but explores the more relevant ideas about religious oppression, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2497,12],"tags":[302,477,1401,2123,703,874,1008],"class_list":["post-35663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasia-fest","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-horror","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtq","tag-mystery","tag-romance","tag-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35665,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35663\/revisions\/35665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}