The Medium manages to be nerve-racking without much in the way of special-effects trickery. There’s no ominous voice modulation and no skittering about on ceilings here. Related: Ridley Scott Wailing for a Remake But as Mink’s behavior becomes increasingly aggressive and unusual, Nim fears that something more menacing has gripped her niece. With Noi’s daughter Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech), a modern woman and non-believer, now undergoing the same symptoms that she and Nim did during the early stages of their own bewitchment, it looks as if Ba Yan wants to continue the familial tradition with Mink as her new medium. But it’s not long before you’re shaken out of that stupor. Drop into its early stages unaware and you’d be forgiven for taking the film at face value as a well-made doc on Thai spiritual practices. It juxtaposes Isan animism with Christianity and small-town Thailand with neon nights and city living. Here at its mildest and most lyrical, The Medium approaches the karmic inquiries of 2010’s mystifying Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. She assumed the role after her sister Noi (Sirani Yankittikan), the intended host but now a Christian, refused it. We learn through interviews with Nim that Ba Yan has worked through her family for generations. The documentary team meets Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), a village shaman who serves as the physical host for the benevolent goddess Ba Yan. Things are mostly calm for the first hour or so. Sawanee Utoomma as Nim – The Medium – Photo Credit: Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Shudder Related: ‘The Medium’: Shudder Drops New Trailer For Thai Found Footage Horror Film Those that found the 2016 film unwieldy and unsatisfying can rest easy The Medium is more direct, more concentrated and, for better or worse, its threats more clearly defined. With its themes of shamanism and spiritual warfare, this pseudo-documentary covers similarly sacred ground to co-producer and co-writer Na Hong-jin’s sprawling South Korean epic The Wailing. By the time The Medium’s fearsome finale gets underway, you’ll be praying for a parrot to waddle onscreen and lighten the mood. It’s markedly different in tone from the director’s contribution to the 2012 anthology The ABCs of Death, in which a bird amusingly discloses its master’s infidelity.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |