What would you and your partner do if you had to share the same body forever?
A newly engaged couple fall into a cave while on a forest walk in their new rural hamlet of upstate New York. Their innocent drink from the cave’s pool of water begins the film’s mysterious storyline as we find out that the liquid contains cultic properties of transfiguration, forcing the couple to become more and more physically connected each day. When they wake up from their night in the cave, they notice that their legs are slightly stuck together.
Tim experiences horrifying nightmares from his childhood and discovers unusual decay in their new house, events which have no link with the primary storyline but heavily add to the disconcerting nature of the film. As Millie carries out the daily life of being a school teacher in the local school, Tim undertakes the life of a musician wannabe with creative deadlock. However, the puzzling effects of the cave water put a lot of strain on their visibly non compatible relationship, until the end, when they suddenly reevaluate the situation. This film, of course, invents an alarming “what would you do if” question and explores it.
Together, directed by Michael Shanks and starring married in real life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, was an unusual diversion. It was a patchwork of tepid jump scares (and one which did actually make me fall off my seat) and a story which unfortunately devalues the well built up tension and turmoil the main characters go through by the final scenes. Although the film was not too dour and did contain some humorous scenes, this mix of humour and monstrosity of morphed body parts create a film which can entertain. It seems that when your boyfriend often appears out of thin air, it can either be cute or alarming.
Sometimes we all need to watch a film which does not seem likely to win the Oscar for best screenplay and rather considers an odd scenario which features creepy bodily morphologies throughout. It is the classic and overused trope: ”two city folk in a troubled relationship move to the countryside where everything is not as it seems.” However, the conundrum is certainly unique and interesting in this film, although it is not explained too thoroughly or well.
Certain plot shortcuts in the film, such as the couple’s eventual effortless escape from the cave and the couple’s simultaneous solo missions resulting in the same realisation, minimise the cinematic effects of well acted fear. Given these parameters, the actors’ performances were definitely skillful.
Through the acting from Franco and Brie, and their characters’ desperation and stress – allure is created, and a very bizarre and watchable film is formed.
With scenes of full frontal nudity and disturbing metamorphosis, this film is not for watching with your mother.
