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Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than watching something that seems incomplete or something that tries super hard to portray a theme. It’s like when you’re watching a movie that is several hours long yet somehow manages to lack appeal. It does not help that at its core it possesses elements of horror, or rather does not possess. That is my rant on a 2020 movie called “The Voices.”
In terms of filming, Nathaniel Nuon’s first feature was done excellently. The shots are stunning to look at. However, the result is his funeral with dry, unimaginative one-dimensional acting. On top of that the movie is plagued with muddled multi-timelines and cliched characters. The set pieces further the suffering.
Focus. This is where the story goes haywire. Lilly, played by Valerie Parker, is a blind person who claims she can hear spirits. Just when you think the movie could not get worse, surprise. She gets pregnant. And out of the woodworks, we find that spirits do actually exist to protect her child who weirdly inherits the claim. Honestly though, if you haven’t thrown your head in your palms or face masks at this point, imagine the movie playing in a romantic setting, with the protagonist falling in love with her prince charming, all while fighting spirits that titled over sisters.
After a car accident that left her blinded and orphaned, Lilly is taken care of by her aunt Becca (Jordan Ladd). As an adult, she comes to terms with the fact that she has the ability to hear ghosts and her parents death. The first hour of the film is dedicated to showcasing her progression from a Child (Chloe Romanski) to a preteen (Jenna Harvey), to a teenager (Romy Reiner) and finally ending with her as an adult (Valerie Jane Parker). In these walkthroughs of her life, there’s a focus on her befriending Madison (Claire Marie Burton), whose parents are child abductors. Instead, the parents of Lilly play a comedic role, pretending to without ever actually committing any crimes. There is also a sense of dark humor as she stumbles through the struggles of having neglected parenting and impending birth that leads to child shattering trauma. As these events unfold, the unknown forces whose voices twine around her head constantly advise her on whether she should walk freely across the road and get hit by a car, or remain safe somewhere, all with the help of a ghost boy. A premonition acts as the final culmination of the plot involving a medium, revealing to Lilly that her child shall have no heart.
These are the fears about being pregnant, with the terrifying specters and child snatches that stalk every avenue in middle class america with its glitzy homes and manicured gardens. Valarie Jane Parker puts in a lot of effort. She seems to be a gullible simpleton which is quite sad and allows herself to be tangled into situations. The extreme is a fairytale like Cinderella. All I want is to dance and procreate. These people serve no function even the peripheral ones. Lilly’s husband is ‘Charming’ William (Jonathon Stoddard). He built a research empire but had to wait until he was a grown-up to get married. Of course, he doesn’t have the white horse. He bears a plastic smile and mock speaks into a headset until he’s had enough and takes it off. Rather, pretend pets. The Man of Steel is far too pleasing a creation to be this sort of film. William does not fit the style, no matter how accurate of a depiction he is. In a truly mawkish scene when Lilly gets taken away, William starts sobbing, having just yelled so much that he clears the air from the room.
I rarely point out errors in independent films since most of them lack the resources of a studio. This one, however, is sexist. In the movie where Lilly is the main character, it appears her breasts have undergone some sort of reduction. To put it as simply as possible, teenage Lilly has larger breasts than an adult fully grown version of her. This could have been managed by wardrobe.
On top of that, the film reflects the culture of the place of filming, Alabama. It shows childbirth as a grotesque act and even includes a disturbing scene that features a class about birthing–thoroughly detailing what it entails, so every parent with the name Lilly and William could get prepared together. As some form of a morbid metaphor for anti-abortion protests, while her husband William goes back into the classroom to get the gift pack, Lilly is sitting in a parking lot in a car. A bleeding ghost woman with an upside down child and an umbilical cord maimed to her person appears, confronting Lilly.
Even though THE VOICES (2020) is somewhat pretty to look at, I wouldn’t classify it as a scary movie. It overuses self-help nonsense and hollowed out characters living in a conquered world where the enemy lurks around every corner in the form of a van or a ghost, This is real middle class fear put to screen – the fear of losing it all. After sitting through such torture, you really just don’t care anymore.
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