The Front Room suffers from what M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap does in that it plays like a Comedy, so that any serious social commentary, and there is supposed to be, is not taken seriously. This is a shame because the perceived issues at play are serious…not least of which is postpartum depression with racism and indignity of aging, and religious microaggressions.
In their feature debut, Max and Sam Eggers, twin brothers to Director Robert Eggers, who cut their chops on his 2015 offerings The Witch and 2019’s The Lighthouse, released The Front Room through A24 on September 6, 2024. The same distributor Heretic, MaXXXine, Civil War, and I Saw the TV Glow in 2024, The Front Room is written by the Eggers with Author Susan Hill (who wrote the short story) and admittedly reworked said story completely so that it could be made into feature length.
Starring the multi-talented Singer/Actress Brandy (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer 1998, Moesha series), Kathryn Hunter (Andor: A Star Wars Story 2022, Megapolis 2024), Andrew Burnap (The Chaperone 2018, WeCrashed series), and Neal Huff (Split 2016, The Sinner series) in a story of a newly pregnant couple who are forced to take in an ailing, estranged stepmother/stepmother-in-law.
The evil stepmother angle has been in movies since Disney’s 1950’s classic Cinderella. This animated she-devil doted on her bio daughters while relegating Cinderella to her and her daughter’s every whim, going so far as to put her daughters front and center at the ball for the prince to pick a commoner to make princess to marry while Cinderella is locked in the cellar. You can feel the evil ooze from her.
The Front Room’s Solange (Kathryn Hunter) is contemptuous towards Belinda (Brandy), but Ava Berkofsky’s (Insecure series) cinematography and Benjamin Rodriguez Jr.’s (Tokyo Vice series) and Eric Kissack’s (The Good Place series) editing, make the movie as a whole feel and look like a Comedy instead of the Psychological Horror the Eggers intended.
Marcelo Zarvos’ (American Ultra 2015, The Equalizer 3 2023) score stands out as giving the movie some heaviness. Furthermore, you can hear variations of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterclass classic 1960’s Psycho main theme throughout The Front Room when Andrew Burnap’s Neal has his back on Solange and Belinda, and Solange gives Belinda a wicked gotcha grin over Neal’s shoulder…or when Belinda has to to clean Solange’s messes while Solange’s in Belinda’s solo care.
Granted, you are not supposed to know where reality comes and goes according to the Eggers.. so this is probably where the cinematography and editing come into play. However, unless it is picked up during the movie or the viewer is already in the know, The Front Room plays like a warped Comedy. Again, this is unfortunate; because it can be greatly inferred that Belinda suffers from postpartum, which is a real condition suffered by some.
What’s more, the racial argument needs to be handled with seriousness, not comedy unless that in itself was the point, but everybody has to be in on the joke. Racism is just one of those sticky subjects…especially in today’s climate. Topical jokes of this nature can easily fall flat, alienating the audience, which is not good for business that counts on butts in seats.
There is a saying that there are three subjects that should not be talked about – politics, money, or religion. The Front Room dares to satirize some of these. Here is where the lines of reality blur though… is Solange religious? Yes. Is Solange radically religious to where she wants to own Belinda’s bay? That is where things get murky. Still, everything is played hyper-real, which might be the clue, but put with the rest of The Front Room, it still plays comedic when you are supposed to be unnerved.
Could some viewers be missing something? Did something get lost in the directing, and acting, or did something get put in the trash in the editing computer that should not have? We will never know unless we get deleted scenes. Here is to hoping Max and Sam Eggers use this as a learning experience. Until then, Cryptic Rock gives The Front Room 1 of 5 stars.
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