Freewaka: Review. By Simon Thompson.
Writer/director Aislinn Clarke’s Freewaka is a movie which starts off with a highly promising first act, but despite a carefully crafted atmosphere and a genuine sense of menace, doesn’t quite stick the landing in the way that you would hope. This is a shame because there is a lot to enjoy about Freewaka, and the way that Clarke balances Irish history and folklore with the horror genre.
Freewaka, tells the story of Shoo (Clare Monnelly), a nurse from the city who, after the death of her mother, is tasked with taking care of an elderly woman named Peig in a foreboding remote rural village. Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), is a traumatised recluse owing to her time being interred in a Magdelene laundry. Peig’s own personal demons put Shoo into the position of being forced to confront her own experiences at the hands of her own fanatically religious mother.
Clarke’s use of a claustrophobic shooting style, naturalistic cinematography, juxtaposed with the constant creepy and surreal imagery creates a tense and weary atmosphere which doesn’t subside as the narrative rolls on. While there are definite conventional style scares in Freewaka, the worst horror at the heart of the movie is the generational trauma, which, without going too far into spoiler territory is the common thread that unites the two main characters.
The biggest string in the film’s bow however, is in its sound design, as the use of mostly diegetic sound fully immerses the audience into the events unfolding. The creaks, chimes, but also the quiet of the film’s setting, expertly creates a sense of mis-direction which makes the big set piece moments which happen later on all the more effective.
Both Bríd Ní Neachtain’s and Clare Monnelly’s performances are excellent, with the pair bringing a sense of believability to their respective roles and having a strong chemistry with one another, to the extent that you couldn’t imagine anybody else playing these characters instead. Their arc of transforming from a bickering odd couple into sharing a deep bond is done in an extremely convincing way and doesn’t feel tacked on for the sake of plot convenience.
While Freewaka is a beautifully shot and well-acted movie, it really could have benefitted from a slightly longer run time – as the second and third acts feel comparatively rushed when measured up against the first. Still if you like rural horror in the vein of movies such as The Wicker Man or Hereditary, Freewaka is well worth a watch.
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