Checked out the new suspense film Greta. This is a film I wasn’t particularly interested in based on the trailers… but then the opening credits launch and inform me that it’s directed by Neil Jordan. The Neil Jordan behind some pretty prestigious pictures like The Crying Game and Michael Collins (and, to be fair, some genre pics like The Company of Wolves and Interview with the Vampire). Greta looked like a thoroughly generic genre pic but now, at least, I’m more interested.
Greta is about a naive young lady, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, recently moved to New York City. She finds an abandoned purse on the subway and, unwisely, tracks down the owner, an older French woman played by Isabelle Huppert. They strike up an unlikely friendship… until Moretz finds a whole cache of purses all aimed to fish for lonely but thoughtful young ladies. When she breaks off the friendship, Huppert reveals her true psychotic stalkery self.
And, yeah, this is just a stalker film but replacing the crazy young man or woman with an older, distinguished French woman. It’s still a suspense film at its core, even if its acted and filmed very well. I found the film a little slow though… it really needed to pick up the pace and, at the same time, stop with the overly melodramatic music played over scenes that didn’t earn it.
But it’s not an overall bad picture. It’s certainly lurid and a bit nuts in its final act, but also fairly entertaining. It does start to play on our expectations with a few nice plot twists. That slight tinge of rebellion toward the genre does make a difference. It’s clear the people who made the movie both knew to trade in the genre cliches but also tweak them.
I’d probably recommend this flick for viewing at home. I’m not sure it convincingly argues for itself being a theatrical sit. But if you do catch it at some point on a rental, it’s probably worth seeing. Clearly not a strong recommendation but there are good aspects to the film and it can be a fun genre picture when the (melo)drama kicks in.
Score: 76