Displaying items by tag: Jonah Wren Philips

BRING HER BACK

Australia, 2025, 104 minutes, Colour.

Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton.

Directed by Danny Philipou, Michael Philipou.

A second feature film from twins, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou. Prominent on social media, there were very successful with their first film, Talk to Me, small-budget teen horror, filmed in Adelaide, and earning several times its costs with its US release. Well reviewed, taking its place in prominent horror films, with supernatural touches, of the 2020s.

Which means a great deal of anticipation for Bring Her Back. While it can be described as a horror film, it is perhaps better to refer to it as a drama about family with some horror touches (a couple of which will make the audience very uncomfortable). It is not about supernatural influences but rather the consequences of grief and mental disturbance.

The brothers are from Adelaide and, once again, have filmed there, mainly in two homes and in the social welfare office. But, the main home as a bush setting, attractive, and making the action seem more sinister.

The casting is very good indeed. British actress, Sally Hawkins, has been impressive for more than 20 years in a wide range of roles, both serious and comic. Billy Barratt is a young British actor, before the age of 20, has built up quite a reputation and won an Emmy. On the other hand, Sora Warm, legally blind, appears convincingly in her first film. The surprise of the cast is 10-year-old Jonah Wren Phillips in an extraordinary demanding role as a tortured boy. In fact, the cast performs admirably.

The film opens with a sad and credible situation, a father suddenly dying at home, bonds between his two children, especially Andy looking after his blind sister, Piper. They want to stay together, and he almost 18 is happy to be Piper’s guardian. But, in the meantime, they are assigned to stay with Laura, Sally Hawkins, grieving after the death of her daughter. And they find that she has a young boy, Oliver, also in the house.

For a review, that is probably enough for setting the scene. Andrew’s and Piper’s arrival and Laura’s welcoming, an exuberant fussing which audiences might feel she is certainly overdoing, is happy enough. But, the directors have disturbed the audience by showing some mysterious sequences, videos of some kind of violent rituals, seen again during the film, but never really explained. It means that the audience is being kept on edge – not that that is really necessary as the film progresses, the funeral of the father, a strange aftermath of drinking and playing games, and the problem of Oliver who remains mute, mysterious.

As an exploration of deaths and consequent grief, of family bonds and loving commitment, Bring Her Back is very effective. (And the title refers to Laura’s dead daughter.) But, the screenplay is full of unexpected turns and twists, the testing of Andy’s character, strong and committed, Piper and her eager response, encouraged by Laura, some frightening explanations about Oliver, and, the heightened melodrama of the final confrontations.

Bring Her Back works very well as a family and relationships drama – with a warning of the MA certificate for some alarming violent moments.

1. The reputation of the directors? Horror traditions? Australian-based, an Australian production? British actors?
2. The title, Laura and her daughter, her daughter’s death, the effect on Laura and her mind, the keeping of her daughter’s body? Her interest in Piper, a substitute daughter?
3. The South Australian settings, homes, the streets, school girls, the social service office, the countryside, Laura’s home, the bush, the outside shed, the interiors and atmosphere, the rooms, the decor? The atmospheric score?
4. The video sequences, the rituals, hard to see clearly? The purpose of inserting the video during the film, an alert, Laura watching them over and over?
5. Piper, her blindness, on the street, the bus, Andy picking her up, the mockery of the girls? Andy and protection of her feelings, saying pleasant things rather than the truth? At home, the bond, half brother and sister? The shower, finding their father dead? Andy later being haunted by the image of his dead father? And the revelation about his brutality towards his son?
6. The situation, Wendy at the office, Andy wanting guardianship of Piper, three months before turning 18? The discussions, and her taking them in?
7. Sally Hawkins performance as Laura, eccentric, but learning that she had been a counsellor for 20 years, trying counselling sessions with Andy, the intensity of her welcome, audiences uneasy with her? Andy uneasy, Piper accepting her? The house, the rooms? The appearance of Oliver, age, undressed, mute, the bruises on his face, Laura’s explanations? The atmosphere?
8. The funeral, Andy not wanting to look at his dead father, the memories, Laura taking some of the father’s hair? Superstitions, her saying that the spirits of the dead sometimes remain four months after death? The sense of his father’s presence? Andy at the images?
9. The aftermath of the funeral, the drinking, the playing games, raucous? Children more at ease?
10. Andy, wary of Laura, the urine, her pouring it on Andy, waking, upset, washing his clothes? Laura and her treatment of Andy, alienating him? The contrast with her behaviour with Piper, taking her out, Piper and her exuberance, the hall and the playing games?
11. The importance of Piper, her appearance, her eyes, legally blind, her devotion to Andy, the bond with Laura, her final strength?
12. Oliver, abducted, his being starved, emaciated, treatment of him, locking him in, in the swimming pool, the swimming pool and her daughter’s death, the writing on the pool, the rain and the pool filling, Oliver and his being starved? Andy finding him, offering him food, Oliver and the knife, putting it in his mouth, breaking his teeth? In the shed, the bodies?
13. Andy, suspicions, driving to see Wendy, the explanations, her disbelief, his seeing the poster about the abducted boy? Persuading Wendy, going to the house, Wendy examining the house, Laura pretending to shower, persuasive? Andy, going to the shed, the body, Oliver and his appearance, Wendy going to the car, Laura crashing into her?
14. The confrontation with Andy, the fight, in the pool, the memories of her daughter’s death, Laura holding Andy’s face under the water, his death?
15. Laura, mad, with Piper, Andy and his phone call, recorded, the issues with the phone throughout the film, Piper, taking her stand, against Laura, the fight, Laura’s death?
16. Piper, surviving, the future?