Karyn Kusama
The Invitation

"The Invitation" could become a little cult classic.

Hollywood, a reunion among friends. Will and Eden have lost their son. They've parted ways and found love with other people. Two years after the event, the time has come to reunite all together, trying to overcome the pain with lifelong friends.

A basic setup for the fourth film by Karyn Kusama, a director who had never been noted for particular flair, at least until this "The Invitation". The film can be "divided" into two parts: the first slower and more static, played on the paranoia of the atmosphere and of our bearded Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and then the final twenty minutes, where inevitably everything that was accumulating before will explode.

"The Invitation" is a sort of "chamber film", shot within 3 rooms and a house. The screenplay matters more than the direction and initially shows some weaknesses, primarily when it introduces the story of the Mexican cult that Eden and her partner turned to in order to cope with her grief. There's a lack of clarity and strength in the initial exposition of what will later be the film's driving element, but fortunately, the director soon puts it back on the right track; we are facing a psychological thriller that progresses very slowly, with a measured and almost "alienating" rhythm (helped by a well-suited interior photography): Kusama wants the viewer to focus on the sentences the characters don't finish, half-spoken things, glances, ambiguities of a man outside the circle of friends, the reasons behind certain behaviors, the keys, the windows... The movie builds suspense without needing to accelerate because it plants doubt and suspicion in the viewer's mind. For Will, the evening "isn't normal," there's something that doesn't add up. A different dimension is perceived, a paranormal that's not there, because man is the true terror. If Hay and Manfredi's screenplay was too simplistic in presenting the cult, it succeeds better at confusing (but only to a certain point) when it raises doubts on two levels: Has Will truly realized that something is off, or is it he who internalizes and then externalizes the paranoia of the loss of his child, right in that house, in the presence of ex-Eden? The epilogue clarifies everything and does so with the good nature of a low-budget film that even in its most thrilling and "gore" part never seeks to be spectacular, doesn't chase easy brutality, but remains extremely balanced, dry and concise, faithful and coherent with the sought minimalism of the staging and with the behavior of the various characters.

It's hard to say more for a film that is entirely shot in three rooms and fundamentally lives off its screenplay and atmosphere. "The Invitation" is one of those titles that doesn't grant pace to the viewer and doesn't provide scenes to satisfy them. It should be savored, in the details to remember and in the looks that say everything and the opposite of everything. And the last thirty seconds are those that keep you seated in reverent silence even as the credits roll...

Christmas is approaching, and now I'm afraid of the red lanterns...

7.5