Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - Durkin's chilling psychological thriller debut

♥♥♥♥♥

4 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Director: Sean Durkin (lost to Agnieszka Holland for In Darkness)
Best Actress: Elizabeth Olsen (lost to Bérénice Bejo for The Artist)
Best Supporting Actor: John Hawkes (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes (lost to Phedon Papamichael for The Descendants)

+ Best Thriller of the Year
+ Best Debut of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year (Elizabeth Olsen)
+ Best Low-budget Movie of the Year 

The intense, Spanish poster for Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha is a young woman who escapes through a forest from a cult. She subsequently lives with her sister and husband in their summerhouse by a lake in Connecticut, while she remembers her traumatic experiences.

Beautiful Elizabeth Olsen (Kill Your Darlings (2013)) is fantastic here in what is only her second major movie role. She plays opposite a scary John Hawkes (The Sessions (2012)) as a pathetic lunatic and Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave (2013)) as her sister.
Martha impresses with stunning images, (cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes (Trainwreck (2015))), minimalistic effects and intense suspense.
It is the impressive feature debut of NYU graduate Sean Durkin (Southcliffe (2013), TV-miniseries), who has written and directed it, based on a short of his starring Brady Corbet (Force Majeure/Turist (2014)) called Mary Last Seen (2010). Corbet also has a smaller role in Martha.
The film forcefully captures the total detachment from reality of a group cult as well as the profound damage done to Martha by blending very uncomfortable scenes and incredible beauty.
Durkin may have made one of the year's best films here.
He is now working on a Janis Joplin biopic, simply called Janis (announced).

Related posts:
 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Elizabeth Olsen and Sarah Paulson in Sean Durkin's great Martha Marcy May Marlene

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost. 1 mil. $
Box office: 3.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[Durkin's film won him the Directing Award for Best Drama at Sundance as well as many other nominations and awards and stellar reviews. It made 2.9 mil. $ (83 % of the total gross) in the US. It also helped catapult Olsen's career upwards.]

What do you think of Martha Marcy May Marlene?