MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE -The Review

Heralded as 2011′s entry in the ‘indie flick that could’ sweepstakes, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE is being compared to last year’s WINTER’S BONE and even shares one of that film’s stars, John Hawkes. Unfortunately, I thought WINTER’S BONE was about the decade’s most overrated film, and while I found MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE to be a much better movie,  it too comes oversold (and has a title that’s impossible to remember). That said, it has its redeeming qualities – particularly its stark cinematography and a superb lead performance by Elizabeth Olsen, the talented (and blessedly voluptuous) younger sister to the twins Mary-Kate and Ashley, but man, does it feel empty.

The four title characters of MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE are really just one – a 20-something woman (Olsen) escaping from a dangerous cult and trying to reclaim a normal life with the help of her older sister. Her real name is Martha Marlene, but flashbacks show that for the last three years she’s gone by Marcy May, a name the cult’s charismatic leader Patrick (John Hawkes) anoints her with as a way to sever her ties to the past. Martha and a couple of dozen fellow lost souls, including her best friend Zoe (Louisa Krause), live in this creepy patriarchal collective, where the women live to serve the men, especially Patrick who likes guns and is the recipient of each woman’s sexual initiation. After having mustered up the courage to run away, Martha is taken in by her older sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and her husband Ted (Hugh Dancy). Staying at their tranquil lake house in Connecticut, Martha refuses to open up about where she’s been and Lucy quickly realizes that Martha is not the same person she was when they last saw each other. Martha casually skinny-dips in front of Ted and even innocently crawls into bed with the couple when they’re having sex (group sex at the cult was the norm). As continued flashbacks reveal a homicidal side of the cult, Martha becomes increasingly paranoid that she’s being stalked by its members and the line between her reality and delusion begins to blur.

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE wowed ‘em at Sundance, winning first-timer Sean Durkin a directing award, and the film certainly sneaks up on viewers with a barely perceptible sense of oncoming dread, but there’s little spice to it. Oppressive and dreary, it meanders along from point A to point B, always pretty and well-acted, but rarely engaging beyond the surface. The compelling opening half hour slowly-but-surely gives way to a subdued atmosphere that’s rarely as engaging as one might’ve hoped. The novelty of the film’s flashback structure goes a long way towards keeping things interesting even through its many uneventful stretches, with Ms Olsen’s star-making work bolstering the movie’s consistently watchable vibe (and this is to say nothing of John Hawkes’ scary turn as the Mansonesque Patrick). It’s clear, however, that the movie’s thriller elements fall flat as a result of its excessively deliberate pace, and there is, as a result, little doubt that MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE is never quite able to pack the kind of emotional punch that Durkin is striving for. In the end it’s the film’s winning performances that end up compensating for its sluggish narrative – which effectively cements its place as a well-intentioned yet somewhat disappointing film. The haunting, cryptic final shot of MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE may baffle and infuriate audiences that like their movies tied up in a neat bow but it’ll get people talking. It’s dark and unexplainable yet the message it conveys is clear: no matter where life takes her from here, Martha will forever be looking behind her back in terror at who might be there. It’s effective and unsatisfying at the same time, underscoring the unfinished quality of the film. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE is a good movie, just not the great one my expectations braced me for. Still, I have to hand it to Elizabeth Olsen here as she carries the film flawlessly as a tough but confused kid fighting for her sanity. There isn’t a moment in this movie when Olsen is upstaged, and she’s in every scene. It’s a sexy, lived-in performance and there are so many solid moments where this young actress shines that I suspect she won’t go unnoticed come Oscar time.

3 of 5 Stars