Butler's Cinema Scene

Fiona Shaw, Tamara Lawrance, Jack Lowden

“KINDRED” My rating: C+

101 minutes | No MPAA rating

Thrillers can be too classy for their own good.

Such is the case with the British “Kindred,” a variation on “Rosemary’s Baby” (and not a few other women-in-distress pictures) that has been well made and nicely acted but never sucks us in the way we want.

The premise of Joe Marcantonio’s film is tried and true.  Charlotte (Tamara Lawrance) and her boyfriend Ben (Edward Holcroft) are expecting a baby.  They reluctantly pop over to the rural estate where Ben grew up to inform his widowed mother, Margaret (Fiona Shaw), of the good news.

And to announce that they’re emigrating to Australia.

Mama is not pleased. The family’s once-resplendent castle in the country is now marked by peeling wallpaper and threadbare rugs; Margaret has long prayed that as the heir Ben would move back and return the place to its former glory.   Now her hopes are dashed.

That is, until Ben dies in an agricultural accident. Shortly thereafter the grieving Charlotte begins to suspect that far from being a pampered guest she is a prisoner in this shabby palace.

Marcantonio’s screenplay(with Jason McColgan) is noteworthy in that until the very end it keeps us guessing as to whether Fiona is a variation on the wicked witch or if it’s all in Charlotte’s head (her own mother had mental issues, and being preggers doesn’t exactly calm our heroine’s mind).

Edward Holcroft, Tamara Lawrance

Maybe this is a gigantic case of gaslighting.

Could Charlotte be the victim of drugs secretly slipped into her tea that impair her judgment and leave her with nightmares of threatening birds? Was her cell phone truly damaged…and why is it taking so long to repair? Is the country MD (Anton Lesser) overseeing her pregnancy really concerned with  Charlotte’s best interests…or is he taking orders from old family friend Margaret?

These questions are further complicated by the presence in the house of Thomas (Jack Lowden), Margaret’s caregiver (though his connections to the family run deeper than that, as we’ll learn).  Thomas (he looks like a young Simon Pegg with more hair) seems like a genuinely nice person committed to the best interests of Charlotte and her baby.

Until he doesn’t. (A running joke: every time Charlotte is about to pin him down on a mysterious subject Thomas announces it’s time to start fixing lunch and vanishes into the kitchen.)

Here’s the thing about keeping one’s cards too close to the vest:  Eventually an audience wants the satisfaction of an answer. “Kindred” generates some oomph by virtue of being a sort of escape drama with Charlotte repeatedly trying to get out of Dodge. But it takes so long to resolve its central conflict — insanity or manipulation? — that it’s easy to lose interest.

Still, the film can boast a nifty scene-stealing performance from Shaw. Just when you’re sure she’s batshit crazy, Shaw’s Margaret gets a long monologue explaining the family history and her own maternal struggles; once you know how she got this way it’s harder to judge.

BTW:  Charlotte is black and the rest of the cast white…and it doesn’t generate so much as a raised eyebrow. The film appears totally color blind.

| Robert W. Butler