Regression (I) (2015) 6.3
A father is accused of a crime he has no memory of committing. Director:Alejandro AmenábarWriter:Alejandro Amenábar |
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Regression (I) (2015) 6.3
A father is accused of a crime he has no memory of committing. Director:Alejandro AmenábarWriter:Alejandro Amenábar |
|
Watch Trailer 0Share... |
Credited cast: | |||
Emma Watson | ... | ||
Ethan Hawke | ... | ||
David Thewlis | ... | ||
Devon Bostick | ... | ||
Aaron Ashmore | ... |
George Nesbitt
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Dale Dickey | ... | ||
Kristian Bruun | ... |
Andrew
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Lothaire Bluteau | ... |
Reverend Murray
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Adam Butcher | ... |
Brody
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Aaron Abrams | ... |
Farrell
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David Dencik | ... |
John Gray
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Peter MacNeill | ... |
Cleveland
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Maura Grierson | ... |
TV Reporter #1
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Janet Porter | ... | ||
Vanessa Spencer | ... |
Satanist
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A young girl is sexually abused by her father. Thus, begins the disturbing tale of a father and daughter torn apart, thrown into the center of a conspiracy that shocks the nation. Written by Anonymous
I was really surprised by quite how bad this was. A large part of the theme hinges around psychology and the therapeutic tool of regression - yet none of this is explored with any substance. The compelling ideas of influence, suggestibility and irrational bias as applied to trauma are given literally a minute of screen time. The film simply has no integrity or drive, it has nothing to say, and what it does say is eventually misjudged, pointless and willfully ignorant of an important subject matter.
Acting wise, Ethan Hawke is basically the exact same character he is in all his films. Emma Watson was better than expected. The normally excellent David Thewlis is completely wasted as a generic psychologist who contributes nothing except lame exposition.
The one or two "scary" scenes are poorly directed, brief and detached from any relevant context, they're clearly just shoehorned in for trailers and marketability. The rest of it feels like those vague, bland scenes between the killings in a Saw sequel, the kind that you forget within half an hour of finishing it, because you were just waiting for something interesting to happen.
The frustrating thing about it is that with a little thought and development, the story could have been fleshed out into something interesting. See The Hunt for example, which delivers layer upon layer of psychological subtlety and cognitive bias. Regression feels like a rushed first draft. No cinematic quality, no substance or research, no good ideas, very few memorable scenes, and a terrible, unforgivable damp-squib ending.