Without - Screened at the Memphis Indie Film Festival on 11-5-011

“Without” Film Review
By: Heather Hardison, Ph.D.

“Without” is a mind blowing psychological thriller that will leave you scratching your head trying to figure out what you just witnessed. I had the privilege of watching this film this weekend at the Memphis Indie Film Festival, and I had not heard anything about the film prior to the screening except for a short description and trailer related to the film festival’s advertising program and wedsite. The overview is that a young woman, approximately 19 years old, takes a job as a caretaker of an elderly man in a vegetative state. He lives on a remote island in Puget Sound, Washington, that is surrounded by woods and a very small town. Joslyn soon finds herself in a situation where she is alone with a man she doesn’t know, who can’t communicate, and no way of communicating with the outside world as she has no cell signal and no internet. She isn’t even allowed to watch television as the man’s family left her specific instructions to only leave it on the fishing channel on level 34 due to his loss of hearing. As the routine of this solitary life takes its toll on her, we start to see her stability waver. Weird things start happening to her that are unexplained and are unsettling to the audience. She only has her iphone to keep her company on this quiet island. Without a connection to the world, all she can do is listen to her music and watch videos from her life, which helps give us a back story for her and what happened before we were introduced to her in the ferry scene in the beginning of the movie.

The slow pace of this movie may put off some people, but that is what drew me to the movie in the first place. It was apparent from the trailer that this film was going to unfold slowly, and I almost skipped this film out of fear that my husband was going to kill me for making him sit through a slow moving “artsy film,” but I’m glad that we stuck with it. The first scene brought about a lot of snickering from the audience as Joslyn is sitting quietly on the ferry with the camera poised on a close up of just her face for what seemed like several minutes. This is rarely done in modern films but was a welcome change from the high energy films that overwhelm all our senses. I prefer a movie to unfold slowly rather than rush straight into action to try to grasp the audience’s attention out of fear that they will lose them right away if something thrilling doesn't occur. As a psychologist, I like to see the mundane tasks of everyday life represented in film as that is what so many people truly live day in and day out. The average joe’s life is not glitz and glamour. Most days are similar to others in the week and don’t stand out due to anything spectacular. Days are made up of long silences and moments where nothing out of the ordinary occurs. Life consists mainly of inconsequential moments that don’t hold any excitement or interest, and the director didn't shy away from that monotony. In fact, this movie camps out in the monotonous nature of this lifestyle. We see Joslyn performing some of the same physical therapy exercises with Frank day in and day out. We watch her engage in yoga daily and running out to town for a latte at the local coffee place just to get out of the isolation of Frank's house. This movie feels very REAL in that aspect. It actually feels more like a documentary than a feature film. And it felt like real life instead of a script that was dreamed up in a studio one day. This is the kind of film that I can respect because it is more representative of true life than most other films.

It’s refreshing to watch a movie without feeling overstimulated by added noise and visual effects. This film is shot simply and focuses on the quiet solitude of the remote setting, Puget Sound. There is not a lot of music overpowering scenes. It’s very subtle when added. In fact, the film is so quiet that it makes the audience not want to move even a millimeter for fear that the noise would be amplified in the quiet theater. Many of the scenes are shot continuously with few cutaways or splicing together of multiple takes. And the camera is usually shooting from just a few inches or feet away from the actors, which creates a feeling like you are right there in the house with them the entire time.

Joslyn Jensen gave a fantastic performance and rose to the occasion. A lot of the burden of this film was laid on her shoulders as she was in every scene and often was the only one with a speaking role as Frank was catatonic. She was very believable and conveyed fear and sadness perfectly as the layers of her character were peeled back for us. This was her first feature film, and due to this breakout performance, I’m sure we will be seeing much more of her. The first time director, Mark Jackson, has worked with Joslyn before on short films/docs and wrote this part specifically for her to play. Ron Carrier, who plays Frank, has the tremendous task of portraying his character non-verbally for the duration of the entire film. He was able to convey loneliness, grief over the loss of his functionality and independence and the frustration over his situation of being trapped in his own body without ever uttering one word. His presence added volumes to the scenes he shared with Joslyn, and we ache with sadness and compassion for him as we watch him sit lifeless day after day.

Mark Jackson’s exploration of the loss of social connection was genius! If you strip away our connection to others, our mental stability often begins to crack. Being cut off in that way messes with our minds more than we would probably like to admit. Society has become so dependent on technology, especially smart phones, internet, and facebook that life seems unbearable without them. It’s interesting to watch Joslyn’s mood and mental state change the longer that she is without an internet connection. It makes you think about what you could do in that situation to keep from dying of boredom. She is desperate at times to entertain herself and becomes desperate to reconnect with the world. This desperation causes her to dig out an old computer to try to connect to the internet through dial up which brought about laughter from the audience at the absurdity of having to resort to such ancient methods of communication. This is the ultimate case of cabin fever!

Overall, Without is a dark, gritty and haunting film. After much frustration over the ending, I changed my view of this film. I think this is a movie that requires you to watch multiple times before all the pieces come together as a cohesive unit. This film should not be judged on just the ending. It won’t feel satisfying at first, but after contemplating all the scenes again you start to appreciate the fact that the director made choices in this film that sit with you for days. I watched 3 films that day at the film festival, and this is the film that I couldn’t get off my mind. I’ve continued to think about it for days. In fact, I couldn't really think of anything else. That is when it dawned on me that what Mark Jackson achieved was truly remarkable and unique. It is rare to watch a film that continues to challenge you days after the viewing. It’s one of those movies that you want to talk about with others just so you can hear their theories on the plot since so much is left open to interpretation.

Spolier alert!! I’m going to analyze this movie to offer insight into the ending. If you have not seen this movie yet, do not read the following unless you aren't going to watch the film at all. It will explain the plot with specific scene descriptions. I recommend seeing this movie, and if you do, you will not want to know certain details which could ruin the suspense. Come back and read the explanation once you watch it for yourself. Believe me, you will have questions about it afterwards.

Analysis:

So the movie ends without much explanation as to what really happens to Joslyn. The audience I was with was pretty frustrated and since it was shown at a film festival, we had the chance to talk to each other afterwards about our theories. I thought about this movie all night trying to rack my brain about clues that were given to us throughout the movie that would lend some insight. Was she being messed with by someone in the house, was Frank really more functional than he let on and he was the one messing with her, or was there a supernatural component to this equation? These were all possible options which were presented throughout the film but it was never confirmed. What is most likely looking back on it, is that Joslyn was losing contact with reality due to her isolation and due to her grief over her girlfriend’s recent suicide that she obviously had not dealt with yet. As she was watching old videos on her phone we were shown that she had a girlfriend about her same age. Joslyn appeared sad and lonely when viewing the videos. Later we are shown old text messages from her girlfriend that indicate that she was unhappy and suicidal. Joslyn ends up visiting her girlfriend’s mother on the island, and it is confirmed that she is in fact deceased. Joslyn starts to show more emotion during these scenes and her grief is starting to surface. Her downward spiral increases rapidly at this point. We start to see that this traumatic incident is the real reason that she is escaping her life and running off to a remote island. She came into this situation very vulnerable and this allows the isolation to play tricks on her mind as she is already fragile. 

As Joslyn becomes more cut off from the world, her behavior starts to change. There were clues throughout the movie that point to her losing her sanity. One of the most disturbing moments that got the most verbal reaction from the audience was when Joslyn returned from her date with a local boy. She is brushing Frank’s teeth and she takes the toothbrush out of his mouth and puts it into her mouth to brush her teeth. This is when we are certain that things are not right with her. The audience was very vocal at this point uttering, “She’s crazy; She crossed the line; That’s just not right; What’s wrong with her.” It was utterly disturbing.

Here are some of the clues that we get along the way that she is losing her grip on reality – she is shown drinking Bob’s bourbon several times as if she doesn’t care about the house rules or Bob finding out, she seems more out of it with each scene as if she is drugged or sedated, and her personality becomes more erratic and irrational. She starts to treat Frank in an aggressive and disrespectful manner which is the polar opposite of how she started off treating him. She appeared to turn on him after she saw a picture of his mistress as if she didn’t trust him anymore as an honest or decent human being. She calls it "creepy." She also began to suspect that Frank was the one messing with her. She thought he was locking her out of the house and moving her cell phone at night. She even had a dream that Frank was sitting at the kitchen table eating by himself out of his wheelchair signifying that he had been faking his illness the entire time. Upon waking from that dream she started to seem more suspicious of him and started to treat him differently.

When she sings a song to her iphone she becomes emotional and you can sense the sadness that she has been covering up. She visits the pharmacist twice to pick up Frank’s prescriptions and each time he points out the type of meds that Frank is prescribed and warns her of the side effects. He tells her that it can cause dizziness upon waking or standing. The second time she picks up the meds, the pharmacist also warns her about taking the medication herself but then tells her in a very creepy way that if she does take the pills to give him a call (this most likely did not really happen and could have been her imagination). There is also a prolonged scene where she is shown arranging his meds and crushing them up to put them in his food. This emphasis on the meds seems to suggest that she could easily be taking some of his medications, which would explain why her phone could be moved throughout the night without her remembering where she left it. It also would explain why she seemed out of it or sedated at times. Maybe the rash/bruise that appears on her back could be a side effect from the meds that often warn about causing swelling, burns, rashes, etc. Otherwise, the large mark on her back is never explained. It may be the result of lifting Frank in and out of his chair since this is extremely physical for her, but she is troubled when she sees this mark and she isn't aware of what could be causing it. It is one of the most frustrating parts of the film because it leaves us wondering what is really going on with her.

Some of the events that took place that still don’t really add up is why she woke up with her shirt removed one morning and a later scene showing her walking into the woods in a trance like state. These could be further signs of her descent into madness/grief, but we don’t really know why she would wander into the woods alone at night. Several scenes like that one created an extremely creepy and spooky feeling. I had chills when the footsteps ran up to her towards the end when she is lying on the bed. I was sure she was going to be attacked or captured. But nothing happened. She just sat there with a smile on her face as if she knew it was coming (another sign that she had gone off the deep end already). That is another truly maddening aspect about this film - the tension seems to build and build and you expect something to explosive to occur and nothing happens; so you are left feeling worked up over nothing. 

Out of character, Joslyn agrees to make a date with the local guy who has been chatting her up even though she is obviously not attracted to men. She spent the first half of the movie blowing him off and trying to convey to him that she wasn’t interested in his advances. However, after she makes the date she becomes preoccupied by what to wear to impress him, and she puts on an uncomfortable and awkward fashion show for Frank. Her date seems very smitten with her and he becomes persistent on spending more time with her. He shows up unexpectedly to the house and demands to come in and see Frank. He seems to have become more aggressive and forward, but it is not clear if this is just her interpretation of what occurred. He seemed very polite and respectful at the beginning of the film so a sudden change in character is suspicious. We already know that she is starting to see Frank in a different way and this may be along those same lines.

This movie takes a similar approach as Black Swan, which also left audience members wondering what was real or imagined. Both movies are shown from the sole perspective of the leading female character’s point of view. Each seem to slip further and further from reality and as they do, strange things start occurring to them. Since we only see from their perspective, there are pieces of information that we are missing that would give us more insight into what we are experiencing in these scenes. There were several parallels between the two movies. At the end of each movie once we start trying to piece together what occurred, we realize that we are only privy to THEIR thoughts and interpretation, which is deemed unreliable. This is when we realize that some of what appeared to happen only took place in the mind of that character and not in reality.

If we look back at some of the crucial scenes in this film we can see the clues that were provided to us. I believe that Joslyn was moving the phone. She was the one that discovered that there was only 1 bar on her phone in the house and that was in Frank’s room. When she finds the phone beside his bed the next morning, we assume someone else moved it. It is possible that she had been in his room during the night even after she went to sleep. She could sleep walk or if taking his meds, she could not remember getting up in the middle of the night. There appear to be gaps here. We just don’t see those scenes and she doesn’t remember being in there but that doesn't mean she wasn't. From the way those scenes are shot, I take it that we are to assume that there is something eerie going on but this is to throw us off, although her descent into madness is quite scary itself even once we figure out that nothing supernatural is afoot. She also starts to act out sexually by undressing in front of Frank and trying to take a video of herself while she takes her clothes off. She starts to cross boundaries, and it is clear that she is not stable enough to be taking care of someone else let alone herself. Her breakdown once Frank’s family returns in the end is sad and terrifying as we see how far she has decompensated while left alone with Frank. We aren't even sure how long it's been. We just know that it was long enough to push her over the edge.

This film is worth seeing again. I'll have to watch it again once it is released. It won the Nice Shoes award at the Memphis Indie Film Festival and has garnered quite a bit of attention already at other festivals. Mark Jackson is being singled out as a director to watch. This is his first film and he wrote and directed it. It is an impressive first feature.

3.5 stars out of 5 stars

"Without" Trailer