"From Black" - Film Review
From Black is every parent’s worst nightmare. Seven years ago, Cora’s (Anna Camp) son (Eduardo Campirano III) went missing, seemingly without a trace. At that time, Cora was heavily using drugs, only concerned with making sure she stayed high. Since then, Cora’s life is at a desperate standstill. There’s no going back, but going forward without her son seems even more impossible. Her police officer sister, Bray (Jennifer Lafleur), has a corkboard in her house with all the clues that she can’t piece together. The circumstances around Noah’s disappearance come to the forefront once again when Bray answers a 911 call and finds Cora covered in blood and surrounded by strange symbols and markings.
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The supernatural elements of From Black work because of the deep, unimaginable desperation of Cora and real people like her. Audiences are familiar with true stories of disappearances or unsolved murders and have likely watched a true crime docuseries about the unusual circumstances that no one has been able to piece together. A conversation about the ethical and exploitative ramifications of these documentaries could and should be had, but From Black is fictitious, simply using these very real worries as the foundation to explore the depths of humanity’s potential for grief.
Camp is mostly known from her comedic roles in films like the Pitch Perfect trilogy or in guest-starring roles on How I Met Your Mother, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and The Mindy Project. However, From Black is definitive proof that horror may be the genre that allows her to express the limits of her talents. Camp still gets to flex her humor chops, but in a more subdued way, and there is depth to the sadness she brings to Cora. When the film turns more supernatural and otherworldly, Camp helps to plant Cora’s feet firmly on the ground, even when the incantations of the ceremony cause her to levitate. Above all, she’s a woman who is desperate to see her son again and will explore every avenue to bring him back.
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Even though the film isn’t “long” by any stretch of the imagination (certainly not when Ari Aster’s latest is clocking in at 179 minutes), From Black does work best when it’s moving at a quick pace. Filmmakers shouldn’t be afraid to make films in the 70-minute range. Celine Sciamma and Emma Seligman, in two wildly different genres, have proven the punch a shorter movie can make if the director is confident in their vision. From Black manages to maintain a decent amount of tension by moving backward and forward through its timeline to show Cora before and after the bloodied state Bray finds her in as the movie begins, but the third act’s wallop would’ve hit harder if the pacing was smoother.
From Black is co-writer/director Thomas Marchese’s first feature-length foray into fiction narratives, and it’s a confident one at that. There’s a conviction in the shot composition that clearly comes from his experience as a cinematographer and helps to elevate From Black to a sinister watch. Marchese doesn’t rely on jumpscares or punctuating musical stings to create his atmosphere of horror. Instead, the film much more intimate and human. From Black preys on humanity’s desperate need to make sense of things even when explanation cannot and does not exist. From Black asks the audience if there’s anything more terrifying than simply not knowing, and forces them to live in that uncertainty.
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