 Repression (2020) Director: Elbert Van Strien Writer: Ben Hopkins & Elbert Van Strien Stars: Thekla Reuten, Elijah Wolf, Emun Elliot & Peter Mullan Running Time: 1 Hr 54 mins. Genres: Mystery, Thriller Release Date: September 28 2020 Synopsis Repression tells the story of a therapist, who loses her grip on reality when a ten-year-old boy claims he can control her future.  Review Repression largely reminds me of the narrative developed within The Sixth Sense. Just like in that movie we have a new therapist, in this case, Marianne Winter (Thekla Reuten) examines the case of her acquired patient, Manny (Elijah Wolf.) it is an intense relationship that will reveal much darker connotations later in the movie. A narrative that delves into the recesses of a damaged psyche. A child in his formative years that has been inevitably damaged through no fault of his own. A story so cerebral that will leave you scratching your head when it’s all said and done. The opening scene of Dr. McVittie (Peter Mullan) in psychological distress is the shock moment, a fisherman reeling the viewer in. Why would the character do this to himself? What’s lurking within the halls of the hospital to have a psychiatrist trying to kill himself? Is it a case of one too many patients and like a mirror effect, he too becomes too ill to fight the demons crawling for dominance within him? From there on we cut to Dr. Marianne Winters arriving in Scotland to settle into her new life. The scenes are what you come to expect from horror movies set in Scotland. It’s atmospheric, with its moody dark tones being at the forefront of the cinematography. It’s a big change for Marianne, leaving America for Scotland after the death of her husband in a devastating car accident, it could be the change she needs to leave it all behind. What if though, it’s a bigger nightmare than the one she left behind. Meeting her young patients gives her a sense of calm, if she can help them with their troubles then it would make the move a successful one. She meets a new patient, Manny. He’s an enigma certainly, but he puts her on edge. He knows things he shouldn’t, knows about a gun in her desk drawer, his drawings seeming to depict the future. She struggles to make sense of what he knows and how he knows it. They both struggle for control, the boy becoming more malevolent the more sessions they have together.  As time goes on you can see just how unwell Marianne is. She is still grieving and hurting from the loss of her husband. Her drinking habits are getting out of control. She’s actually in the right place where that’s concerned – she could drink any hardened Scotsman under the table. She develops a romantic relationship with Kieran (Emun Elliot), it however, feels underdeveloped and disingenuous. She’s still in emotional turmoil over her husband and yet can delve into this dalliance with Kieran, I just wasn’t feeling it. I’m quite torn over the ending – we have a couple of alternate endings included in the running, all confusing the shit out of me. So much time is spent trying to build up the story, but the pinnacle points end up feeling rushed and undoes a lot of the leg work. YVONNE 🐛 THE COYCATERPILLAR READS Hi there, I’m Yvonne.Book Reviewer/ General all-round Nerd Well, what can i say about me? I’m a 32 year old married woman and mum to 3 crazy boys, aged 12,5 and 3. My eldest has a genetic condition that causes a visual impairment so as you can imagine life can be very chaotic and provides many challenges along the way but I would 100% never change any of them. They fulfil my life beyond measure. I Adore Books – I adore shouting about books! I’m a reviewer of all genres, whether that be Epic Fantasy, Gothic Horror, a historical romance or a race-to-the-end thriller. I will read them all.  CHECK OUT TODAY'S OTHER ARTICLES BELOW
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