When Tommy's pregnant wife is attacked, Tommy is forced to defend himself and his newborn daughter from a group of 'hoodies', a merciless group of what may as well be zombies. We see him attend group therapy to deal with his trauma, and experience his desperation every time he leaves his house. It's about the darkest film I've seen all year.
It's frankly difficult not to be troubled by the bleakness of the message presented here. The film is telling us, in multiple ways, that these attackers are beyond help and beyond hope, which is about the scariest place one can possibly be. Foy's masterful camera work keeps things tightly on Tommy, intensifying the feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia he's also going through.
It's frankly difficult not to be troubled by the bleakness of the message presented here. The film is telling us, in multiple ways, that these attackers are beyond help and beyond hope, which is about the scariest place one can possibly be. Foy's masterful camera work keeps things tightly on Tommy, intensifying the feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia he's also going through.
Citadel has provided me with some of the most genuine scares of the festival so far — it's a story that feels so familiar while being unfraid of going to extremely dark places. A brilliant effort for Foy and I can't wait to see what he does next.
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Stay tuned all week for more reviews from the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. You can find them all here.
This
review was written by Sachin Hingoo, a freelance writer when he is not
working at an office job that is purpose-built for paying the bills
while he works as a freelance writer. His writing has appeared on
Mcsweeneys.net, the CBC Street Level Blog, Ohmpage.ca, and The Midnight
Madness Blog for the Toronto International Film Festival. He has also
been featured at Toronto lecture series Trampoline Hall (which is
rumored to be excellent). His mutant power is 'feigning interest'. You
can read all of his posts here.
Photo: A still from Cieran Foy's Citadel
2 comments:
Neat. That old dude looks to be the same actor who plays the priest who's all about "saving the child" in Sons Of Anarchy.
Yes! I think he might be a little typecast in that role, haha.
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