ALL TOO FAMILIAL
THE NEST PROVES A HOUSE DOESN’T NEED GHOSTS TO BE HAUNT ED — INN ER DEMONS ALSO TORTURE
Cast: Jude Law, Carrie Coon Director: Sean Durkin
Duration: 1 h 47 m
Ithink it’s my own fault that I didn’t like The Nest more than I did. After viewing a single trailer, I went into it thinking it was some kind of slow- burning horror story, and spent most of its 107 minutes wondering when the ghosts would appear.
The fact that writer- director Sean Durkin shoots this domestic drama with the pacing and camerawork of a horror, and throws in a few scenes of mysteriously open doors and spooky creaky noises, didn’t help matters. But again, my fault, or maybe the trailer’s.
Jude Law stars as Rory O’hara, a British financier who moves back to London from the United States with his American wife and two children. He’s convinced there’s a fortune to be made in Thatcher’s Britain. (A reference to U. S. president Reagan places us firmly in the 1980s.)
But rather than make money first and then spend it, Rory takes the opposite route, renting a huge mansion in the Sussex countryside with room for the family’s horses, and putting his kids into the best schools money (even if you don’t have it) can buy.
Only then does he head back to his old firm, playing up the Hail the Conquering Hero vibe for the benefit of his boss, Arthur. (Michael Culkin is excellent in this small but pivotal role.)
But cracks soon appear in his carefully cultivated lifestyle. Wife Allison ( Carrie Coon) is both deeply unhappy in her new home and distrustful of her husband, to the point where she keeps her own stash of cash, just in case. Ten- year- old Benjamin (Charlie Shotwell), so eager to please his mom, can’t seem to fit in at school. And older daughter Sam ( Oona Roche) is acting out, though that might just be the result of being a teen.
Durkin, whose last film was the well- received 2011 drama Martha Marcy May Marlene, is very good at crafting the little details that put us in a particular time and place.
Never mind a mention of Reagan on the news — when Sam jumps up to record the Thompson Twins’ Hold Me Now on a cassette deck from the radio, I knew what year it was.
The director also excels at depicting a very particular strata of British society, including the tendency for Rory’s colleagues to both admire his wife (because she’s blond, pretty and exotic), and look down on her because, well, she’s American.
For his part, Law captures the increasing desperation of a man trying and failing to ingratiate himself even further into that echelon. When Allison asks him how much their rent is, he replies: “Less than you think.” When he says he has money coming in and she wants to know what for, he merely says: “Don’t worry. It’s coming.”
Except it’s not. Meanwhile, the kids say the new house gives them the creeps, the horses take ill and Allison grows more troubled, to the point of hysteria. The only thing that could top this level of familial dread would be a full- on demonic possession.
Durkin’s filmmaking cleverness comes from realizing that the movie doesn’t need to go that far, to tip the balance and slide into the supernatural. Law’s character has enough natural demons for everyone. And writing these words, I realize I actually didn’t dislike The Nest as much as I thought. I’m going to take credit for that, too. ΠΠ•½