Movie Review: Possum

Possum ** / *****

Directed by: Matthew Holness.

Written by: Matthew Holness.

Starring: Sean Harris (Philip), Alun Armstrong (Maurice), Simon Bubb (Mr. Evans), Andy Blithe (Michaels Father), Pamela Cook (Mother in Park), Charlie Eales (Michael), Daniel Eghan (Police), Ryan Enever (Michaels Uncle), Raphel Famotibe (Simon), Joe Gallucci (Lee). 

 

Had writer/director Matthew Holness had made his debut feature Possum into a 30 minute short, it may have been great. There is real talent in the direction of this film in terms of building and maintaining atmosphere and tension that is reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s underrated Spider (2002). And yet, unlike Spider, there really is no narrative here and the film basically repeats itself again and again and again for its 85-minute runtime until the abrupt finale which is both the only possible outcome and comes completely out of the blue. I look forward to seeing what Holness does next – because the talent is here – but is more bored than unsettled by his debut.

 

The film stars Sean Harris (best known as the villain from the last two Mission Impossible films) as Philip, an extremely introverted puppeteer who is experiencing dark visions, all of which may just be in his head. Over the course of the film, we will hear the dark children’s tale, about Possum – a create with a spider’s body and a human head. Philip carries around a huge puppet of Possum in his bag, which he is constantly trying to get rid of, but can never quite do it. His only relationship is with his Uncle Maurice (Alun Armstrong) – who still treats Philip as if he were a disobedient child. Dark things keep happening around Philip – a child goes missing, and not for the first time – but because we are trapped with Philip, we never really know what we can trust and what we cannot.

 

I cannot imagine that Holness is not a big fan of Cronenberg’s Spider – as he really does try and do something very similar to what Cronenberg accomplished there. And yet, that film was a complex examination of Spider’s fracturing mind – flashing back and forth in time from the events of 20 years ago, and what is going on today. Cronenberg’s film is a masterpiece of psychological horror, and dives deep. In Possum, Holness gets the surface correct, but not much else. Philip isn’t that complex a character – Harris plays him as a quiet surface level, without really communicating the underlying trauma in his character. Armstrong, as the menacing Uncle, is clearly evil from the get go, and it’s a fairly one note performance – like the rest of the movie.

 

But the surface is really good. I do like the look of the film, and sustained mood that Holness is able to maintain throughout. It’s just there’s not much else here other than that sustained oppressive mode. It’s a dark and depressing movie – but one that establishes that in its opening minutes, and really has nowhere else to go.