Lee Daniels’ first horror effort, “The Deliverance,” should not be confused with 1972’s “Deliverance.” Though, like John Boorman’s three-time Oscar-nominated film about idiotic canoeists going through hell in rural Georgia, it makes for pretty painful movie watching.
Not since “Hillbilly Elegy” has Netflix treated Glenn Close this badly. That’s true even considering her small role in the streaming platform’s terrible “Heart of Stone” last year. “The Deliverance” director Daniels, an ambitious storyteller with an admirably spotty track record, is best known for creating the “Empire” TV show with Danny Strong and, before that, directing the Sundance favorite “Precious” (which, yes, is based on Sapphire’s novel “Push”; thank you very much for reminding me).
Director: Lee DanielsWriters: David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum, Lee DanielsStars: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anthony B. Jenkins
In 2009, Daniels’ talents as a producer on 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” preceded the success of his eventual Best Picture contender, “Precious,” but the grim family drama about a black family living in Harlem is what made him a celebrated director. His raw portrait of a relentlessly abused 16-year-old (Gabourey Sidibe) was dark, violent and hard to swallow. Daniels’ approach to creating cinematic realism had its detractors, but bold visions make great directors.
Those talents are still very much alive in Daniels, who has earned the right as a filmmaker to recruit singular acting titans like Close, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Mo’Nique (of “Precious”) for a film as ill-advised as “The Deliverance.” It’s an exceptionally tough year to try your hand at the horror exorcism markets, but Daniels’ idea to open up her own legacy and transform a heartbreaking drama about a struggling family into an extreme genre effort could have worked. Sadly, the smart restraint she once displayed with “Precious” (always knowing when to back off) is replaced here by a scattershot execution that has more half-scary ideas than she can handle.
Tough-as-nails Ebony (Audra Day) lives with her bombastic mother, Alberta (Close), a cancer patient, and is a recovering alcoholic and mother of three children: teenager Nate (Caleb McLaughlin), middle daughter Shante (Demi Singleton), and youngest Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins). Things are tense in the house long before anything resembling a possession is suggested. For one, the kids’ father was deployed to Iraq months ago, the bills are piling up, and Ebony has no idea when he’ll be back. Worse yet, Alberta says, “Catfish has too much garlic!” Oh, Alberta!
The loudmouth matriarch has a way of getting under Ebony’s skin and that tension spills over into a few reasonably well-written fights, which frequently center on race. Daniels’ willingness to re-explore even the thorniest dynamics of the black experience is commendable nearly 15 years after “Precious.” It’s worth noting, though, that Close’s casting is a bit puzzling since the “true story” about the emergence of an Indiana woman that Daniels is supposedly telling (her name is Latoya Ammons, look it up) featured no real-life counterpart to the doomed scene-stealer.
Flies start to come out of the basement in an early scene and sleepwalker Andre puts on a memorably menacing display of drinking milk straight from the carton. Social worker Cynthia (Mo’Nique) adds to the chaos with frequent unannounced visits as the threat of Ebony’s children being taken away from her looms ever larger in the distance. The listless mother swears she doesn’t drink and that something is wrong in her house. Of course, no one believes her when the kids start showing up with bruises. After all, Ebony hits them — that much the audience can see.
Even with plenty of winks and nods coded into Alberta’s suspicious devotion to the church, “The Deliverance” takes more than 40 minutes to decide it wants to be supernatural. That might be something of a semi-spoiler, but considering how much of Ebony’s nearly two-hour journey directly interacts with obvious clues pointing to the devil, it’s hard to ignore in the review.
Had Daniels explored all the underpinnings of a horror film as a dramatic allegory for addiction (as the film's opening quote suggests: “I need forgiveness for my sins, but I also need deliverance from the power of sin…”), the director might have done better than resorting to ghosts… or demons? Reverend Bernice (Ellis-Taylor) attempts to steer the film over that spiritual hurdle. Unfortunately, not even the legendary actress, one Tony shy of an EGOT, can save “The Deliverance” from falling into a mess.
Comments
Post a Comment