After new neighbors move in next door, a bereaved mother begins to question her reality in this unsettling psychological thriller.
Andrea Riseborough (“Possessor”) is, without a doubt, my favorite actor. She chooses the most interesting roles and has appeared in some of the best films and series of the last decade. In “Here Before,” she plays Laura, a woman whose internalized grief begins to manifest in disturbing ways.
Laura lives in a duplex situated on a cul-de-sac with her husband Brandon (Jonjo O’Neill) and son Tadgh (Lewis McAskie). They live on the coast of Belfast, a city all too familiar with the ghosts of the past. Writer/Director Stacey Gregg captures ordinary things and moments that appear eerily pretty or out of place. On a walk with her husband, only Laura looks up past the orange hue of sulphuric lights gazing upon a cluster of stars glowing majestically in the cold night. She’s searching for something and is alone on her journey.
One day while picking up Tadgh from school, Laura spots her young neighbor Megan (Niamh Dornan), who’s waiting on her tardy mother Marie (Eileen Higgins). Megan is a spitting image of Laura’s deceased daughter Josie and they instantly form a connection. After the pair begin spending a wee bit too much time together, their families grow concerned. Over time, fractured memories and reality become distorted. Adam Janota Bzowski’s score compliments these cutting moments with his sharp notes that warble into mournful synths.
While some might be seeking a typical thriller or horror, Gregg is more concerned with the psychological and possible supernatural aspects of loss. Her film is stirring while avoiding any gore or outright explanations. In “True Detective,” Rust Cohle declared, “Time is a flat circle,” Gregg astutely captures the inevitable traps of nature filming roads overhead like a maze and circles manifesting in various forms. Her arrangement of odd camera angles and use of timeless Autumnal colors recall Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now,” which similarly featured painful recollections and the paranormal. And like that 1970s film, I plan to rewatch “Here Before” many more times.
“Here Before” recently had its World Premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival
