MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Housewife • Year: 2017 • Country: Turkey • Director: Can Evrenol • Main cast: Ali Aksöz, Resit Berker Enhos, Defne Halman • Runtime: 82 minutes • Production company: Anka Film, Chantier Films, Mo Film • TRAILER |
After surprising the world with his debut film Baskin (2015), many eyes from fans of horror and fantasy films were pointing at its director Can Evrenol, wondering if he was a resourceful movie maker or his first movie was only a lucky accident. Well, after watching his newest movie Housewife, we can certainly say the man knows what he is doing.
Perhaps yes, Baskin (2015) was a crazier movie and that’s why it shocked the audiences so much. But if Evrenol made another festival of gore and madness like his previous film was, the impact wouldn’t probably be that strong. Instead, he chose to take a step into a more sophisticated terrain, but not forgetting those moments of Lovecraftian terror that has already turned into his trademark.
Because Housewife is a movie about dreams and nightmares, where one reality merges into another until the point you don’t know what is real and what is inducted. I must admit I was pretty lost in the first half of the movie, not understanding where the director was taking the story. But don’t worry, dear reader, because once the film is over and you can see the whole picture, it all has sense. The characters are mysterious. There are so many things we don’t know about them. And maybe we don’t need to know that because that is part of the mystique. The cinematography is quite dark, even in the daylight scenes, getting the audience ready for that final surprise the ending of the movie is.
The movie is written by director Can Evrenol together with Cem Özüduru, his frequent collaborator who also is co-author of the script from Baskin (2015). Besides being a Turkish production and being filmed in Istanbul, this is an English language movie. The cast is international, being the main performers from Denmark, Canada, Turkey or France. That mix of nationalities works fine in the movie, gives more freshness to the group of characters who are involved in the artsy and creative underground of a plural big city as Istanbul is.
If you liked Baskin (2015), Housewife is a safe bet. Also recommended to all the fans of supernatural mystery, the secrets of dreams and the nightmares from Lovecraft stories. It’s only the third day of the festival, but for me, together with Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape Of Water (2017), Housewife is so far the best movie of the Sitges 2017 line up.
RATE: 7/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6464678