Sosie Bacon as Rose in ‘Smile’
The world is a stage and we are all storytellers. We tell ourselves stories about ourselves; stories that have the power to set us free or trap us. Smile, Directed by Parker Finn, it tells a set of stories like these.
Before you go to the movies, I recommend that you take the trigger warnings surrounding suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) very seriously.
After witnessing a patient die by suicide in a psychiatric emergency hospital in a gruesome manner, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) begins to experience frightening and strange occurrences, similar to what the patient experienced just before her death. In her attempt to investigate what appear to be unexplained, supernatural circumstances, she travels a path that forces her to probe her sense of self, unresolved traumas, and guilt-ridden demons.
The concept of someone going through the most heartbreaking events, with a smile on their face, is a great metaphor for the lives of patients suffering from mental illness, who are often invisible to the outside world. Sticking to the end of the movie is rewarding; the bizarre 15-minute climax sequence of Rose in her childhood home, facing off against her demons is the perfect combination of supernatural and body horror.
Smile
Director: parker finn
To emit: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Dallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn
Execution time: 115 minutes
Plot: After witnessing a strange incident at the hospital, an overwhelming terror begins to take over Dr. Rose Cotter’s life; Now, she must confront her haunting past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Sosie Bacon is equal parts terrifying and pitiful and helps strengthen the film’s conviction by delivering a message about mental health. Kyle Dallner as the overbearing ex who refuses to respect boundaries deserves a special mention.
Of all the characters trying the creepy dead-eyed smile, Caitlin Stasey hits the spot and manages to send a shiver down your spine (no wonder she appears on most posters).
SmileThe haphazard treatment of mental illness and trauma over the course of an hour and fifty-five minutes seems to be intentional and is bound to make you uncomfortable. The subject of inheriting mental illness and walking down a path you’ve lived in fear of your entire life is poignant.
But. The jump-scares (sigh). The liberal use of jump-scares takes away from the seriousness of the issue at hand and it feels like the creators are almost making fun of Rose’s condition. The film’s tone is also reminiscent of early 2000s horror movies; bloody, cheesy and logic-defying. While some horror movies’ demand to suspend logic works in their favor, that’s not the case for Smile. By suspending logic, they only make the protagonist and her state look bad.
Still, despite some of his missteps, Smile It’s a brave attempt to confront mental illness in a horror movie, and it might be a good movie to watch on a night out with your college friends.
Smile is currently running in theaters.
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