directed by:
Thor Moreno written by: Thor Moreno genre: Horror, Thriller |
Personally, I really dig the concept of “SCHISM” and the ideas that writer/director Thor Moreno has put into this movie. In many ways, if you’re one of those folks who have studied the different types of conflict, you’d look at this from the perspective of it being a woman vs. self type of story - as we follow Nola on a journey that has her battling to retain her sanity. When we first meet her, she ain’t exactly winning that battle – she’s witnessed something so tragic that they’ve stuck her in a mental institution. Before too long, she ends up being moved to a much more low-key residency by herself as a ‘guest’ on an island in Dr. Sherry’s care. If she does well there, she’s going to walk away a free woman and a ‘normal’ member of society, but with this film being in the Horror/Thriller realm, you can bet it probably won’t be that easy.
As far as we know, Nola is a clairvoyant of sorts, which isn’t going to make her ability to separate fact from fiction any easier. If anything, it’ll make it more challenging for her to distinguish what reality really is and most likely impede the process of her healing. If she truly heals at all. “I feel that most facilities can do you more harm than good.” From the sounds of things at the start, it seems like I’m on Dr. Sherry’s side if that’s really how she feels about the idea of institutionalism. As we delve into Nola’s therapy sessions, we discover that she believes she used to see ghosts, although she’s come to the decision that her visions must have only been “bad dreams.” Whether or not she’s saying that to please her doctors - or if she really believes what she’s saying- remains to be seen for now. Nola strikes us as intelligent & actually quite together despite the many constraints of her current circumstances. We see flashes of scenes that definitely suggest otherwise…she actually might not be sane at all. That’s a lot of the beauty of “SCHISM” overall. Moreno has done a stellar job of establishing a high degree of confusion towards the beginning of this movie, so we never really know which end is up, what’s actually real, and what exists only in Nola’s mind. The extreme isolation that she’s become a part of is something that consistently creeps into the film as a result of its extraordinary setting. Think of it like this – she’s basically a Nicolas Cage short of being on “The Rock” where she’s being kept, stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. Seeing the mist drift in and the fog surrounding the scenery is a great way to visually represent the lack of clarity that Nola’s actually experiencing in real-time as we watch. I always find it a little tough to identify with authority figures and doctors, to begin with, so it’s fairly natural for me to feel like Nola’s really the hero of this story, but Moreno has also done an excellent job of muddying the waters by making Dr. Sherry seem cold, direct, and distant when it comes to her dealing with Nola’s needs. We have to ask ourselves what kind of twisted-ass program would allow its guests to be stuck way out on an island in the ocean with barely another soul around them, right? It’s not like people in Nola’s position get to ask to see a proven record of rehabilitation or success. Hence, she just has to go along with what is admittedly a very strange scenario - and space for her to heal her mind. It makes it even stranger when we meet David way out on the rock by the water’s edge, dressed in the same green outfit as Nola. She’s supposed to be the only person that’s out there being cared for, so are we seeing a real person, or are we seeing something that’s not even there? What about all the things she sees along the way as well, like workers watching her through the windows or carrying shovels back from somewhere else on the island? What the heck could those shovels be for, and how would they relate to the care of the ONE patient they’re supposed to be looking after? We end up having so many questions, and that really establishes the tension and mystery you see in “SCHISM.”
All-in-all, it’s fair to say that Moreno’s movie continues to get weirder, and you’ll find that you have a whole lot more questions before you really get any answers. To be even more fair though, that’s the same for Nola as she tries to navigate life on the island and find her way back to an everyday life. I really liked Cait Moira in the lead role of Nola – she did an excellent job of establishing the level of confusion that a character like that would feel, the terror, and yet also the intelligence behind it all. As for the rest of the cast, they’re not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re really not as necessary when it comes right down to the meat & potatoes of what would make a film like this one work. As in, they do what they do, and they do it well enough, but it’s Nola that creates the interest you’ll have in “SCHISM.” When it comes to Moreno’s filmmaking, I felt like I was pretty damn satisfied with what he chose to show us onscreen. From light effects that support the distortion of reality that you’d want to find in a story like this one - to the wide open scenery shots that somehow make us feel even more claustrophobic - to the use of flashing scenes that help establish how tough it is for Nola to travel back and forth between the reality she knows & the reality she sees. He’s done good work overall & showed real technique, too. In many ways, he’s done a whole lot with what’s actually quite a little – “SCHISM” makes great use of its setting in the house and on the island but remains much more of a character-driven story at the heart of it all. David (played perfectly by Jordan Dobbins) ends up being a crucial part of the plotline, so keep an eye out for him as well. As to the sub-plot that’s semi-introduced about an hour and change into this film…honestly, I don’t know that it needed to go that extra step; I had already bought into this tale of twisted reality, and to take it anywhere other than into what’s a theoretically supernatural story…I don’t personally feel like “SCHISM” needed to go there, though ultimately, it didn’t really hinder the plot too much, either. I felt like there was still room to make Dr. Sherry a bit more malevolent and decisively evil - perhaps Dennis as well…but their presence is definitely always an indication that Nola’s life is about to get much worse rather than better like it’s supposed to be getting. While it seems like it will be the same ghosts in her mind that brought her to the island, to begin with, that’ll eventually set her free, Nola’s still locked in a battle for her life on a physical level, every bit as much as she is with her own mental state. This film is entertaining, even if it gets a little out of pocket by the end. I think I would have loved to have seen a lot more of David’s character show up along the way, and as I’ve mentioned, there’s still a lot more room to have made characters like Dr. Sherry & Dennis more defined than they are. They’re both a bit on the generic side of things, but still effective enough in helping this story move forward. Overall, though, “SCHISM” is complete, cohesive, and stays within its framework for the most part without going too far into some of the subplots that it suggests. It could have gotten very bogged down if it had split in as many directions as Nola’s mind goes, and while it seems strange that Moreno would have included some of these details in the story at all, he did well to steer clear of going too far into them all. I’m going with three and a half stars out of five – “SCHISM” is highly watchable thanks to the strong performance from Cait Moria in the lead and Moreno’s instincts on how to tell a story that’ll keep you fully engaged. The final twists written into “SCHISM” don’t only make sense – they take the movie to a whole new level that I think everyone watching will genuinely appreciate and talk about after it’s all over. |