Hereditary

 

Written and directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary is the story of a family mourning the loss of their secretive grandmother as they deal with a mysterious presence that would haunt them. The film is a psychological horror drama in which a family copes with not just the loss of their matriarch but also things that they might have inherited that would put them in dark places. Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Mallory Bechtel, and Gabriel Byrne. Hereditary is a chilling and gripping film from Ari Aster.

The film revolves around a family who deal with the death of their secretive and reclusive grandmother as they later cope with mysterious things around them that would be followed by tragedy and other strange events. It is a film that explore a family trying to deal with not just loss but also strange things such as the behavior of a few as well as some things relating to their grandmother. Ari Aster’s screenplay is more of a study of this family with its matriarch in the miniatures artist Annie Graham (Toni Collette) coping with the death of her mother as she is trying to understand about her mother while there’s some things that are happening as it relates to her children in the 16-year old Peter (Alex Wolff) and her 13-year old daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Even as the latter exhibits odd behavior and is always drawn to different things forcing Annie to have Peter take her to party full of kids his age where he spends a lot of time just flirting with a classmate and smoke weed where things go wrong. Even as it would add tension into Annie and Peter’s relationship with Annie’s husband/Peter and Charlie’s father Steve (Gabriel Byrne) trying to mediate.

The script doesn’t just play into grief and family dysfunction but also this air of mystery as it play into Annie’s search for answers where she meets a grief support group member in Joan (Ann Dowd) who helps her in trying to get some answers. Yet, problems would emerge with Peter becoming withdrawn and having nightmares that include a dream relating to Annie’s own issues with sleepwalking that includes an incident where she, Peter, and Charlie were covered in paint thinner from head-to-toe as she tried to light a match. It play into Annie’s own journey relating to her mother as well as things in her mother’s life that are shocking and probably is being passed on to her and her children.

Aster’s direction is definitely stylish in terms of his compositions and the way he captures a family coming apart by their grandmother’s secret past. Shot on locations in areas at Summit County, Utah as well as the town of Sandy, Utah. Aster play into not just these locations as it is something different that stray from convention but also play into some of the things that would happen such as a scene of Peter driving at night on a dirt road. Aster’s wide and medium shots have all of these striking compositions that are mesmerizing in the way the camera is positioned as well as how they would move in some tracking shots. The film’s opening shot is an example of the shot as it is shot inside a room and it then focuses on a house in the room as it zooms into the room and then Steve walks in to wake up Peter. It is among these unique compositions including matching compositions of the house shown in the day and then a cut into night and vice versa. There are some close-ups as it play into not just the horror but also the drama and suspense including scenes where Peter deals with trauma but also this growing fear into what his mother has discovered.

The film does also feature things relating to nightmares and other mysterious things relating to ghosts and cult rituals that do come into play as well as this need to connect with the dead. Notably in a scene where Joan asks Annie to do a séance where the latter is skeptical until something happens as she decides to have one at her house with her family but it only leads to complication and questions. Even in the third act where Steve, who is the most skeptical, makes some discoveries of his own where he realizes something isn’t right but he’s also wondering if Annie has gone crazy. Yet, it is Peter who would try and discover what is happening as well as why his sister had been acting odd as it relates to their grandmother. Overall, Aster crafts a riveting yet intensely-frightening film about a woman trying to uncover her own mother’s dark secrets and its effect on her family.

Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of natural lighting for some of the daytime interior/exterior scenes as well as the usage of candles for the séance sequences and other stylish lighting for scenes set at night. Editors Jennifer Lame and Lucian Johnston do amazing work with the editing with its usage of jump-cuts, match-cuts, and other stylish cutting to play into the drama and suspense as well as knowing when to not cut for shots to linger for more than 30 seconds. Production designer Grace Yun, with set decorator Brian Lives and art director Richard T. Olson, does excellent work with the look of the Graham family house from the look of the rooms as well as the interiors of Joan’s apartment and Charlie’s treehouse outside of the main Graham family home. Costume designer Olga Mill does nice work with the costumes as it is largely straightforward with the exception of the funeral clothes the family wears early in the film as well as some hippie-like clothing that Joan wears.

The makeup work of Chris Hanson and Abigail Steele is terrific for the look of a few characters as it relates to some of the horror they deal with. Visual effects supervisors Eran Dinur, Chris Haney, and Lucien Harriot does fantastic work with the visual effects as it relates to some of the ghostly elements in the film along with some effects that help play into the horror. Sound editor Lewis Goldstein does superb work with the sound as it help maintain a mood in how it play into the suspense and horror as well as some of the sparse sounds that include the tongue clicks that Charlie makes. The film’s music by Colin Stetson is incredible for its ambient-based score that features elements of orchestral, dark ambient, and classical touches that play into some of the drama and suspense as it is a major highlight of the film while music supervisor Joe Rudge cultivates a soundtrack that features not just a classical piece by Georg Philipp Teleman but also music from Cam Smith featuring Thrillah, B.o.b., Modeselektor, Flatbush Zombies, K Theory, and Judy Collins covering Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now.

The casting by Jessica Kelly is wonderful as it features some notable small roles from Ari Aster as Annie’s agent, Mallory Bechtel as a classmate of Peter in Bridget whom he’s fallen for, and Kathleen Chalfant in an un-credited appearance as Annie’s mother Ellen Taper Leigh who is seen mainly in pictures as a mysterious woman with a dark secret. Ann Dowd is fantastic as Joan as a woman that Annie meets in a grief support group who is also dealing with loss while making a discovery that would help Annie in dealing with grief though her motives are suspicious. Milly Shapiro is excellent as Charlie as a 13-year old tomboy who is exhibiting odd behavior following her grandmother’s death as she brings a lot of concern to her parents and her older brother Peter as it relates to how close she was to her grandmother.

Gabriel Byrne is brilliant as Annie’s husband/Peter and Charlie’s father Steve Graham as a psychologist who is trying to calm things down while is baffled by what Annie is doing as well as dealing with a mystery relating to his mother-in-law’s grave. Alex Wolff is amazing as Peter as Annie and Steve’s 16-year old son who doesn’t just deal with the strange things around him but also his own brush with tragedy as he later becomes troubled by things around him that relates to some of the mysterious events around as it also include some amazing physical work that he does. Finally, there’s Toni Collette in an outstanding performance as Annie Graham as a miniatures artist who is trying to understand the loss of her mother as well as other things where Collette doesn’t just bring some moments of calm into her performance but also this manic sense of dread and fear that seeps into her character as it is truly a career-defining performance for Collette.

Hereditary is a tremendous film from Ari Aster that features a phenomenal leading performance from Toni Collette. Along with its ensemble cast, ravishing visuals, an eerie music soundtrack, and its study of family secrets and dark secrets inherited by the previous generation. It is a film that isn’t just this intense horror film but also the study of a family coming apart by generational secrets and what they might’ve inherited. In the end, Hereditary is a magnificent film from Ari Aster.

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