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  • Don Ford

Don Reviews "Greta"


It is a horrible thing to be a victim of a stalker no matter who you are. From celebrities with obsessed fans to people trying to get out of relationships that turn dark, Hollywood has looked at this subject with films like “The Fan,” “The Crush,” or “Misery”. Unfortunately, sometimes it leads to tragic aftermaths, and director of “The Brave One” Neil Jordan looks at this in his new film, “Greta”.

Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) plays Frances, a food service worker who lives with her roommate Erica (Maika Monroe from “The Guest”) and has just lost her mother to illness while living with a distant relationship with her father (Colm Feore). While on the subway, Frances finds a purse that has been left behind, and upon checking its contents for its owner winds up at the home of Greta (Isabelle Huppert). Greta is extremely grateful and invites Frances in, and a friendship begins to form, but Frances soon finds out that things are not quite what they seem and a dark side of Greta presents itself that quickly turns into psychosis and obsession, putting Frances in danger.

Although “Greta” takes place in New York City, I was very surprised to find out that principal photography took place in Dublin, Ireland. The sets and scenery showed what was filmed New York in a good way and blended with the Irish-shot scenes well. With the story revolving around Moretz and Huppert, they both do an incredible job here, feeding off each other no matter the emotion whether friendship or almost combatants. Huppert shows the balance between light and dark very well, and although not quite as well as Kathy Bates did in her Oscar-winning performance in “Misery” she still had a very memorable portrayal here. I also have to give a shout out to Jeff Hiller, who plays the restaurant Maître D’ as well as Thaddeus Daniels, who plays a police officer who although had minor roles, they add both the gravity and comedy at the right points when needed.

At ninety-eight minutes long, the film flowed well and did keep me interested even though there were few points that were predictable with enough surprises to make up for it. There are a couple of points where they take pages from the “stupid things you just don’t do in a horror, but let’s do them anyway” playbook, but there were also many scare scenes in this film that are not the “cheap scares” that I am known for hating. Of course this film is not for everyone, but if this is your style of film, I think you will really enjoy “Greta,” recommending it as a twilight to full price in the theaters.

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