Our Blossoming Fear

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2018)

The Babadook is a terrifyingly stunning film that treats its audience to the minimalistic mundanity of a single parent household while descending into the depths of despair and grief-stricken fear that only an unseen force can create. A film with such simplicity in its art direction and complexity within its story and angular shots leads us, the audience, to further understand how destructive, beautiful, and horrifying our own denial and repression of memories can be. Using our childlike sense of wonder and imagination through the use of a storybook, we see the unravel and torment of a tapped-out mother dealing with the uncontrolled problems of her past and, now, with her son. The music in this film gives a sense of eerieness as if we have heard the faint chime or the grumbling growl that crescendos as we get closer. The Babadook takes the audience and throws us into an emotional and mental meat grinder. We are enthralled by the disturbance of this family ordeal and will stop at nothing, as the characters do, to look for closure. And yet, even though we may not reach a full closure upon the film's ending, we are left with a hopeful and subtle conclusion that leaves a bittersweet fulfillment. Jennifer Kent, the writer, and director of this truly wonderful film truly deserves the accolades for this stunning display of hope.