Other kinds of horror are more complicated. There are stories which get us to uncomfortable places, that play with out ideas of comfort, that get under our skin. These require an audience which is imaginative, which can understand the terror underneath.
Annihilation is the latter kind of horror.
Writer/director Alex Garland has made a terrifying film. He has made a film which is asks us to think about what normal is, what base line is, and what it would mean to be transformed beyond our control. The questions he poses aren't answered, the suggestions he makes are contradictory. Annihilation is about not being what you were before and not being able to go back.
He has made a film about women. The film is self-consciously about women addressing the unknown after men have failed. It is about women of colour and queer women. It is about how women survive.
And it is a beautiful movie. Garland's unassuming take jumps us around in time a bit, giving us little pieces, which are mostly quiet moments at first. Moments of visceral terror are introduced but briefly and effectively. They often leave the more disturbing questions in their wake. He starts with his film being soft focus, lovely and quiet, slowly adding more chaos, more violence, more disruption until the film crescendos into something confusing
The film supposed did not test well. Audiences were confused, upset with the non-linear aspects and dark tones, the lack of resolution. Fortunately the film makers stuck to their guns and didn't do reshoots to "fix" that. Annihilation is the sort of film you go for coffee after to discuss what the hell did we just see??
I understand in the book this is based on the characters are left quite ambiguous as to their identities including gender and race only to be identified in later books. I understand Natalie Portman is playing a character who is not identified in the book as any specific race but later is confirmed to be asian. It is unfortunate that Hollywood still struggles to cast racialized actors in appropriate parts leaving white actors as leads regardless. Does this pull from the movie? The movie remains brilliant and Portman is excellent. Would it have been important to cast an asian actor in the lead role in this film? Certainly.
Annihilation is typical Garland in that one will leave with more questions than one goes in with and that's what makes me so attracted to his work. But he is also developed a very interesting visual style which I find so compelling, especially in light of the fantastic elements. Garland goes full out with the fantasy (reminiscent of his screenplay for Sunshine which was critiqued for that bold direction) and that may put some people off. I think Annihilation will put a lot people off.
But not everyone.
Annihilation
Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Issac, Benedict Wong
Writer/Director: Alex Garland
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