Into the Looking Glass and Back to the Past in ‘Oculus’

(Photo courtesy of Relativity Media)

It’s all too tempting to look into a mirror and imagine that what we see staring back at us isn’t what it seems. This might be the main element that director Mike Flanagan, so far mostly known for his work on TV, pondered in his atmospheric horror movie “Oculus.”

Based on his 2006 short movie “Oculus 3: The Man With the Plan,” Flanagan took on the seminal film’s premise of a haunted mirror and expanded it. Shown in the present day with parallel flashback sequences, the film shows the efforts of siblings Kaylie (Karen Gillan as the adult and Annalise Basso as the 13-year-old) and Tim Russell (Brandon Braithwaite and Garrett Ryan as the 10-year-old) to destroy an antique mirror that they blame for shattering their family. The project, which entails an array of computers, phones and thermometers to document the event, is also a homecoming of sorts.

We meet 21-year-old Tim just after his release from a mental institution, where he was locked up for the past 11 years for killing his father Alan (Rory Cochrane) after the latter lost his mind and killed their mother Marie (Katee Sackhoff).

The tragedy began after the couple slipped into a state of paranoia-turned-insanity, which Kaylie and Tim both attribute to the mirror. Their literal confrontation with the past sets the stage for an encounter that will challenge their perceptions of reality.

The first half of “Oculus” strongly resembles “The Conjuring” in its use of a brooding, dark atmosphere, though it doesn’t have the latter’s constant, relentless pace.

Cinematographer Michael Fimognari’s camerawork deftly weaves through the house’s dark halls to either portray it as a house of horrors or a landscape for Kaylie and Tim’s haunted imagination. Flanagan explores this latter element particularly well. He seamlessly blends the past and the present, as Kaylie and Tim go from recalling flashbacks of their dismal childhood experiences in the house, to facing their childhood selves and demonic tormentors.

In doing so, Flanagan aptly takes a page from psychological thrillers like Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.”

The change is rather unexpected from “Oculus’s” predictable horror movie beginnings, which see Cochrane go from loving patriarch to raging psychopath in much the same manner as Jack Nicholson’s turn as Jack Torrance in “The Shining” or Ryan Reynolds’s take on George Lutz in the 2005 version of “The Amityville Horror.”

But the quartet of Gillan and Braithwaite as well as Basso and Ryan keep the audience very much engaged with their sibling “Babe in the Woods” act, reminiscent of the classic fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” or horror movie “The Glass House.”

Gillan, best known for her role as Amy Pond in the UK science fiction series “Doctor Who,” delivers a fine and intense portrayal of Kaylie, particularly as her obsessive drive to destroy the mirror eventually brings “Oculus” to its unsettling climax.

She is also shown to be fallible, as one of the movie’s rare forays into humor shows her chewing on a lightbulb that she mistakes for an apple.

Braithwaite, on the other hand, balances his on-screen sister quite well with his acquiescing yet skeptical portrayal of Tim. However, his skepticism is derived from vulnerability and repressed memories, instead of the confidence and clarity of logic.

But the ultimate scene stealer in “Oculus” is perhaps the mirror itself. Immobile and inanimate, the mirror inspires loathing and fascination in equal measure for the horrors that spring out from its inscrutable depths. The obsession that the characters feel for the mirror enables it to play with their minds, and shrewdly makes the audience question the Russell siblings’ sanity and sense of perception, as well as their own.

In all, “Oculus” and its mix of shocks, terror and insanity make it an unforgettable horror movie and a worthwhile way to question our ability to face traumas or the demons lurking in the dark corners of our past.

Oculus

Directed by Mike Flanagan

Starring Karen Gillan, Brandon Braithwaite, Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff

103 minutes

English with Indonesian subtitles

By Tunggul Wirajuda on 02:08 pm Jun 13, 2014

Follow Friday: Up in the Cloud, the Honeyed Tones of Teza Sumendra

Teza Sumendra counts Twitter, Instagram and YouTube among the social media platforms he uses, but says SoundCloud is his main medium. (Photo courtesy of Teza Sumendra)

Many Indonesians, especially the younger generation, often don’t appreciate the different music genres that the country’s music industry has to offer beyond the usual pop and rock songs. Enter Teza Sumendra, one of the most unique soul and R&B singers around, fitting the bill as Indonesia’s “new kid on the block.”

“I have been singing since I was 7 years old,” he recalls.

Teza made his first foray into the music industry when he was still in high school. In 2006, he was one of the contestants on the third season of Indonesian Idol. His performances, closely watched not only by enthusiastic TV audiences but also leading figures in the industry, eventually earned him a mentorship with renowned jazz musician and composer Indra Lesmana.

“It was an honor to meet him personally, to work together and especially to create music together. After Indonesian Idol, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Indra on his compilation album called ‘Kembali Satu’ [‘Back as One’],” the 26-year-old says.

Looking back on his journey, there are many unforgettable moments shared with eminent figures from Indonesia’s music scene, many of whom Teza not only met but also collaborated with. Besides working together on several compilation albums, Teza also participated in several musicals, like “Laskar Pelangi” and “Ali Topan the Musical.” He has also been a regular performer since 2009 at the prestigious Java Jazz Festival, held annually in March and billed as the biggest festival of its kind in Southeast Asia.

“For now I’m working on my first solo album, which will probably be released around October this year,” Teza says. The first single from the album, called “I Want You, Love,” has already received positive feedback from listeners.

Teza’s songs are posted on SoundCloud, which is the social media platform he uses the most. With more than 31,000 followers, Teza finds it a rather easy and convenient way to upload tracks from his home or his studio and make them available to such a wide audience. Teza often sings covers of songs by local or international stars such as Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams.

“I would say that my primary social medium is SoundCloud, because I love to share my covers of other singers’ songs, and also to show more about the genre these songs belong in,” Teza says.

He’s also quite active on Instagram, with 25,000 followers, but he uses this platform for different purposes, where he mainly shares pictures and videos of his day-to-day life, and less about his career as a professional singer.

“For me, Instagram is just to fill my free time, when I have nothing to do. This social medium is more easy and more flexible to use than SoundCloud,” he says.

Teza also counts 7,000 followers on Twitter. To reach an even wider audience, Teza has created a YouTube account as well, gaining 2,200 subscribers, and views reaching in the thousands.

Even though Teza sings mostly in English, he wants to put a stronger focus on Indonesian listeners first.

“By singing in English, I want to show Indonesian music listeners that local musicians can indeed create music that has international standards or feel. Hopefully someday I will go overseas,” he says.

When asked what his plans for the future are, he simply answers that he only has three main goals he wants to achieve.

“First, I want to set foot in New York City; then I will live there, and finally become a musician there.”

It seems that Teza is certainly on the right path to making his dreams come true — and for that reason, he should be on music lover’s to-follow list.

Follow Friday is a series of profiles on the people who make up Indonesia’s ever-growing Twitterverse. Follow at your own risk.

By Dhika Himawan on 01:05 pm Jun 13, 2014