A chilling mystery thriller, blessed by stirring imagination and striking acting performances, especially by child actors. Among witty scares invented by the director herself, we get closer to untreatable true sins of the Catholic religion. Skilfully raised fantasies about exorcism, possession and resurrection slowly transform into breath-taking horror, which may not leave your thoughts for a long time after the screening.
A devotedly faithful family mourns their elder son Han-byul. Both parents sincerely believe that it is the hand of good lord Jesus that tests them with painful suffering. The reverend advises adopting a child with special needs and sharing all the love they still have in their wounded hearts after the tragic accident. So the grieving parents embrace visually impaired charismatic Isaac, who quickly finds his place in their spacious two-storey house. The acutely sensitive boy counts that the kind family still consists of seven members, and witnesses how the crying Han-byul constantly visits them. Confused by incredible revelations, the mother starts to notice previously unseen guiding signs.
Guilt confronts sanity. Grief transmits into fear. Doubts bring home obsession. New clues expose hurtful lies. Divine faith opens all gates to powerful devilish manipulations. The prolonged process of healing disperses into drowned secrets. How long can you believe something whispered by someone who is not entirely trustworthy? How far will a loving mother go to protect her adopted child who suddenly uncovers not-so-pleasant truths?
源自：https://poff.ee/en/film/the-other-child/
You wake up in a shabby hotel room with no idea how you got there. You can’t recall your name. You discover there seem to be other young women in other rooms in the same predicament, though one of them seems to know your name: Anne. After an unpleasant encounter with a rather large cockroach, you have a screaming fit. That’s when the nurses arrive to sedate you. And by the way, when night falls, you’ll need to escape from a killer demon with the bloodied head of a deer.
Faces of Anne relies heavily on elements of the slasher film – and in many ways, that’s exactly what it is. But the film is also a puzzle, whose central question – Why is Anne here? – allows us to explore theories as to its solution until the very last moment. Are we inside a video game? An escape room? The mind of someone with multiple personalities? The elaborate and nihilistic fantasy of a deranged serial killer? It’s nothing new to remark that the best horror films are often those that reflect the fears of society; this film builds a clever – and viscerally terrifying – analogy of some of the difficulties faced by today’s young people.
源自：https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2023/films/faces-of-anne
