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Monday, March 19, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW
Apart
For Two, Childhood Visions Persist But Does True Love?

Josh Danziger as Noah and Olesya Rulin as Emily in Aaron Rottinghaus' psychological thriller-love story "Apart".  System X Media
    
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Monday, March 19, 2012

 From very early childhood, Emily (Olesya Rulin) and Noah (Josh Danziger) have vivid sightings or hallucinations, termed by a doctor (Bruce McGill) as a disorder with a mix of letters and numbers.  Emily and Noah have a lifelong bond, one that the new thriller "Apart" shows evolving into love over the years, shifting back and forth from elementary school to high school and the present day when both are approaching their thirties. 

Aaron Rottinghaus's film opened on Friday in select cities in the U.S. and Canada, and it was written by the director and Mr. Danziger, the latter a blank, ghostlike presence throughout "Apart", which asks what two inseparable people have to do to shake the horrific visions they share.  Emily and Noah have premonitions of death, and if they see someone with blood running down their faces, it's curtains for that poor soul.  In a small town there are rivals and histories that are tangled, all of which connect to the

In tense and unsettling fashion, "Apart" rivets with its creepy atmosphere, brooding aura and off-balance tonal shifts, and even if those shifts are marked by edits that are too frequent and bombastic at times they adequately befit the turmoil of their troubled, doomed protagonists.  An effective mix of psychology, horror and tender love story, "Apart" is occasionally undone by bursts of melodrama and overracting but largely stays on course as a psychological tragi-thriller that becomes an absorbing, cleverly-plotted endeavor.  There are secrets and revelations about the visions Emily and Noah share, culminating in a surprising reveal, one I never saw coming.

Style is the hallmark of "Apart", which begins as a medical procedural, then progresses as a romantic drama and phantasmagoric horror movie, and finally a crime-solving mystery thriller.  "Apart" shows that vivid memories are often the most painful and healing, and that the sights seen are sometimes the product of pure imagination, love, protection or unmitigated horror.  Mr. Rottinghaus fills much of his film with imagery unaccompanied by words and marked by blinding golden white hot light, and it is in these moments that the discomfort level grows, both for the characters and the audience.  With some good cinematography by J.P. Lipa, different palettes signal alternate time periods and traumas, and what we witness is jarring.

One thing you are compelled to ask yourself while watching "Apart" is if what you are seeing is really happening, is a nightmare or fantasy or all three.  Who's perspective are we seeing these disturbing episodes from?  How reliable are they?  Are they the product of some unseen trauma?  There are times when "Apart" is apparently a metaphor for angst-ridden lovers afraid of what the future will hold.  At other times "Apart" is about fending off potential threats and rivals to the powerful, almost symbiotic love that Emily and Noah share.

Miss Rulin bears an uncanny resemblance in many scenes to Lizzie Olsen (seen most recently in "Silent House") and though she doesn't have the same caliber of acting skill and talent Miss Olsen does she brings a spooky unpredictability to the screen as Emily, especially in wordless moments.  Mr. Rottinghaus is good at keeping us on edge, and the other performances are solid if unspectacular.  "Apart" stays on uneasy footing for much of its brief running time, and even through the end of the closing credits we aren't quite sure where things will go.  Leaving before the credits run would not be too wise.
With: Joey Lauren Adams, Michael Bowen, Brandon Todd.

"Apart" is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of America but contains scary, disturbing visions with some brief graphic bloody violence and language.  The film's running time is one hour and 26 minutes.
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