Greta

Frances finds a handbag on the New York subway and promptly returns it to Greta, an eccentric French piano teacher who loves tea and classical music. Having recently lost her mother, young Frances strikes up a seemingly harmless friendship with the lonely and kindly widow who enjoys her company. But when Greta's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and obsessive, Frances does whatever it takes to end the toxic relationship before things spirals out of control.

Every so often one of these types of films comes along, the ones that sound interesting and exciting until you realise that it's actually quite scary about how realistic it could be - well here's the latest film in that category! I didn't expect much from the film to be honest, with a low budget and a collection of fairly unknown actors (apart from Chloe Moretz) it didn't exactly look amazing on paper but it definitely surprised me, the way in which the film follows the relationships between the characters and how they evolve is really exciting and definitely makes this film a really unique and interesting one. But, is this film any good? Here are my thoughts.

Greta starts off in a really unique way which actually helps to start the film off really nicely, by throwing us right into the deep end and showing us each of the characters quickly going about their daily business without any explanation, this has a really interesting and positive effect because not only does it help to introduce a theme of uncertainty into the film but it also sub consciously builds tension and suspension right from the very beginning and allows us to be introduced to the 'enemy' right at the beginning. I really liked how the film really focuses on the story and making the film engaging - it doesn't focus on making the characters seem relatable or personal because it doesn't need to, but instead it focuses on building tension and making scenes creepy through a great series of audio, creepy dialogue and mysterious characters. It focussed on building a realistic and powerful culture that surrounds internet stalking, it was also really clever in the way that the film evokes emotions from us - by forcing us into a false sense of security and using a variety of audio and visual cues to really create an effective scare experience. I think that the characters were really key to the overall film though because they made scenes feel really engaging and exciting, where scenes such as the argument in the restaurant was short lived - the way in which emotions were presented to us felt really intense and immersive which led us to believe that the emotions were real and genuine - and even had the same effect on us! There were some seriously creepy scenes though but they worked because the film created an interesting yet powerful culture around Greta. The way in which the film worked this so well was by using an interesting set of audio and visual cues, some of these were simple and basic such as Greta staring through the window at the restaurant but others were harder to spot such as the way the camera panned as she walked toward's Greta's house for the first time and seeing her demise. All of the visual cues came together to create a really effective and creepy set of characters, but they don't feel unrealistic or laughable because of the realistic sense of the emotions that the characters had and the ways in which they reacted to what was happening in front of us, but instead - where characters were on edge we felt the same, when they smiled we did and when they were terrified so were we! Chloë Moretz is believable as the well-meaning Frances, and Isabelle Huppert is unrelenting as the villain. Both actresses throw themselves at the material with so much earnestness that it's difficult not to buy it, no matter how implausible, silly, or frivolous the circumstances. Maika Monroe provides enjoyable comic relief as Moretz's out-of-touch friend, while Stephen Rea makes a minor appearance as a private investigator who arrives in a rather stilted manner near the climax. There is a fun, almost darkly comedic tone to it which borders on self-awareness, and combined with the excellent directing, performances, music, and cinematography it is very hard not to enjoy it even if the script is not so original. Moretz was great. I thought she carried the story well enough, but Isabelle Huppert and Maika Monroe were absolutely phenomenal and really seemed to create an immersive set of characters which helped to make the film all the more spooky. I also really liked how the characters were represented in the film too, characters seemed to pop up and disappear for a while which actually had a really interesting impact for us because it meant that characters were unpredictable and exciting when they came on screen. As I said, the characters personalities weren’t the main focus of the film but instead the focus seemed to be on creating a really creepy perception of Greta and showing the terrifying nature of stalkers.

As well as this I thought the plot idea for the film was really good, sure some parts of it were corny and didn't feel that realistic but it wasn't meant to, it was designed to creep us out and mission accomplished!! The plot seemed to flow well throughout the film, the dialogue between the characters was actually really helpful to explaining events and allowing us to follow and understanding what was happening and why. I also really liked how the film seemed to really challenge the boundaries and norm of the thriller genre, not only did a variety of surprises help to keep the film interesting but seeing a continuous series of scenes with Greta helped to add empathy to the character and definitely gave it the unique twist it needed. But the director no doubt deserves credit for bringing a subtle strangeness to the look of the whole project. Aside from the gimmick of the purse that starts the action, the entire first half is an annoyingly familiar stalking story - so that the intensity of the exciting final twenty minutes is both welcome and frightening. The plot was kept simple too which I liked, there weren't many unnecessary additions or twists to the film which felt unnecessary and this simply helped to ensure that the film was easily understandable and just generally entertaining/thrilling!

The film wasn't all perfect though, one of the main problems I had with this film was the lack of detail into the characters - I really feel that by seeing the characters lives in more depth and Greta's general life then this would've meant that we could have really understood and sympathsied with characters which would've made some scenes much more real and terrifying but they weren't as effective because there wasn't the realistic and personal effect that the best thriller/horror films deliver. Another key problem for me is that the characters are frustratingly illogical/stupid, beginning with Frances either unable or unwilling to block Greta's number despite the obvious problems, or the unwillingness to not give away all of her details to a stranger - it all felt a little bit too straightforward and simple to believe really. Unfortunately, Greta can't seem to buck the trend of being painfully predictable. I found myself predicting major plot points and character beats way before they actually happened, negating any sort of suspense right off the bat. I get the commentary on the well intentioned naivety of the millennial generation, I get the commentary on how society exploits the "niceness" of young women, I get the thematic significance of the socio-economic disparity between Greta and Frances, I've just seen it all done before so many times and done far more interestingly.

The film also has serious problems with pacing. It moves far too fast for me to buy Greta's obsession with Frances and it felt jarring how quickly the film moved through their relationship. This really hurts the whole movie as a whole as reveals that should really leave an impact on me just end up falling flat. The film was really creepy yes, but it just felt like so much more could've been done to really push the effect it had on us - such as emphasising the other people Greta had killed or just simply something more to really emphasise her crazy nature.

Overall, I would give this film a 7.5. It was good and it did create a really creepy and effective viewing through the character interaction and the cool story-line because it was directed in a way which kept us up to timing but problems surrounding pacing, thepredictable fashion and the lack of detail into the characters wider lives really hurt the film and ensured that it couldn't be the best possible film it could be. I definitely feel that with tweaks it could be a really good film, but for now it will still creep you out but it feels like much more could've been done to really have a powerful effect. Would I recommend this film though? Yes I would, it was good and definitely created a creepy effect which will last long outside of the cinema - but it just isn't amazing and doesn't feel like it was pushed far enough so for some viewers it may feel like a wasted trip.

After watching this film I will definitely think twice before returning a lost bag/phone that I find...

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing this review and watching the film, have a lovely day. :)