"ATTACHMENT" // TRIBECA 2022

BY MATEO MORENO

ATTACHMENT is a wickedly smart new horror film that blends a romantic meet cute story into a religious thrill fest and both work well on their own and together. It's smart, well-written, well-acted and original take on a set-up that we've seen before. But thanks to writer/director Gabriel Bier Gislason's whip smart script and steady directing, it's a set-up that we haven't seen quite like this before. Maja (Josephine Park) is an actress who quite literally bumps into an English student Leah (Ellie Kendrick) in a library and the classic meet-cute happens. It feels purposefully like we're watching a rom-com: Maja is dressed as an elf, working at a kids event in the library and she meets Leah. Instantly they are drawn to each other with an equal spark between them. We follow them as they immediately jump into spending every moment together, with Leah even cancelling her trip home back to England. They are blissfully happy.

That is, until Leah has a seizure and ends up breaking her leg. So she's forced to return home to England, with Maja joining her to her home, shared by her Mother Chana (Sofie Gråbøl). We learn immediately that Chana is very religious, an Orthodox Jewish woman who believes she and her daughter must exist separately from everyone, including Leah's new sweetheart Maja. Maja doesn't understand why her mother won't let her in, so she wanders around the neighborhood and finds a religious book shop that happens to be run by Maja's uncle Lev (David Dencik). She shares her need for knowledge and although he immediately knows that she is indeed an outsider, he tells her all about the mysticism that exists within the Jewish faith, such as what a Dybbuk is (a spirt that has invaded a body) and what a Golem is. A Golem is a specific object that defends a Jewish family after it's been "brought to life," and these two particular things are of the utmost importance with Leah's family.

Maja knows that there's strangeness brewing within their home and she has to figure out what is happening to Leah, who seems to be growing different with each day. The relationship between Leah and her mother is also concerning, especially how controlling Chana is with her daughter. Is there true horror creeping in? Mental illness, control issues? All of the above? What works so well is how carefully balanced the film is and how the romance never gives in for the suspense and the suspense never overtakes the romance. It all works as one, and the four lead actors are all just captivating. Josephine Park and Ellie Kendrick are perfectly matched and their chemistry and passion is electric to watch. You also deeply care for both of them and Sofie Gråbøl's performance shadows over them in a thrilling way. Finally, David Dencik is striking and dryly hilarious. Without giving too much away, the film satisfies throughout and is a knock-out discovery. I hope you discover it as well.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Gabriel Bier Gislason STARRING Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2022 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: ATTACHMENT