Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 3.0 | 8/31 | Countries 1/6 | Germany
Finance district, NYC. The sun sets and office lights dot the landscape like dying stars.
Morris takes a swig of coffee before seeing a letter on his desk from the Volmer Institute to Mr. Hank Green (not that one). The letter has a black wax seal of two eels interweaving. He feels chest pains. He drinks water to help it, but it only brings him to the ground, convulsing and dead.
Cut to a train running through a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Lockhart is on the phone with his assistant, Josh, talking about a merger. Among his paperwork and newspapers is an eel-sealed letter, written by Roland Pembroke, the CEO of the financial firm for which Lockhart is an executive.
While Lockhart reads this letter, we flash back to him entering Morris’s office, which is now his. The board of directors calls Lockhart up. There, he reads the letter. It’s so long, but it’s basically, “I just learned capitalism is bad, but I found the cure, so leave me alone.” The board’s request is straightforward: go to Switzerland and bring Mr. Pembroke back.
Cut forward to Lockhart receiving a taxied service to the spa. The driver asks about the cure. All his passengers are older folks. They all go to the same place. Those who go up, stay up.
The spa has expensive retirement home vibes. Lockhart believes he will be in and out in 20 minutes. Straight away, the place gives him the runaround. That and no cell service makes Lockhart an angy boy. The place offers ancient water with mysterious healing qualities. Lockhart must return later. On his way out, he sees a mysterious woman standing barefoot, watching him.
What happens next — a ballerina, a blue vial, a fire, and other images flash in sequence — will dictate Lockhart’s life as he works to recover Pembroke and to learn the secret of the treatment center and its water.
Thematically, the film looks at the systems we create and how we convince people to participate. Capitalism benefits only a select few, creating a fragile system of dependencies and hierarchies. In the wellness industry, snake oil salespeople sell cures to non-existent diseases, keeping people dependent on something they don’t need. The film merges these systems in a way I won’t elaborate on to avoid spoilers.
The film has an intoxicating atmosphere, not too dissimilar from The Ring. Everything has a green aura that feels sickly or medicinal, depending on the context.
Everyone seems to know a single sliver of the story, so Lockhart constantly learns additional details. But if you’ve seen movies before, you’ll have solved the film’s biggest secrets early on. The mystery that drove me was what was happening to folks at the retreat — we got an answer, but I wouldn’t call it satisfying.
Part of the problem is that the movie is way too long! They could have easily combined several near-duplicate scenes to achieve the same effect and get this under 2.5 hours.
The best aspect of this film is having a budget like Verbinski’s. He produces some insane images that look quite convincing. This movie has some brutal mouth trauma, so here is your warning! Unfortunately, some of the best images left me asking, “But why?”
Dane DeHaan is fine as a finance asshole, but the moment the script calls for an emotional beat, he leaves a lot to be desired.
Mia Goth is always perfect as the siren. She says weird shit, walks around and sings, and looks at you like a haunted Victorian child.
Harry Groener plays Mr. Penbroke, so that’s a treat for Buffy fans.
Overall, there’s a great movie buried here, but the length and structure obscure more than elevate. This film could be someone’s gateway drug to weirder movies.