Burl
Ives won an Academy Award for his retooled recording of old English folk song
“Lavender’s Blue.” This eerie parnormal-repressed memory rendition is not
likely to repeat that dubious fate, but it underscores the mood quite aptly.
There is indeed quite a lot of creepy kid’s stuff going on in Ed
Gass-Donnelly’s Lavender (trailer here), which screens during this
year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Obviously,
something profoundly messed with Jane when she was young. These days, she
obsessively photographs old, abandoned farmhouses—just for fun. After rolling
her car to avoid a little girl who could have walked off a V.C. Andrews’ cover,
Jane wakes up with scant memories of her daughter Alice and her not quite fully
estranged husband Alan. It seems the accident aggravated long “healed” trauma
from her chaotic childhood. According to Liam, the hospital head-shrinker, her
rehabilitation might very well awaken long suppressed memories along with her
healthy adult memories.
To spur
the process, Jane will return to the childhood home she just learned she owns.
Apparently, good old Uncle Patrick has been managing the upkeep on her behalf
since her years in foster care. Slowly fragments of memory make their way back
to Jane, abetted by the unnerving gifts left for her on the porch (ballerina
figurines and the like). Unfortunately, Jane will not handle the resulting
stress well.
Gass-Donnelly
does not blaze a lot of trails in Lavender,
but he maintains an appropriately sinister vibe. He definitely has a rural
gothic thing going on, which is further amplified by Colin Stetson & Sarah
Neufeld’s discordant chamber-style string motifs and Brendan Steacy’s evocative
(one might even say haunted-looking) cinematography.
Abbie
Cornish melts down convincingly as Jane, while Diego Klattenhoff looks
comfortable enough in the rural setting. Playing a bit against type, Justin
Long is not terrible as the psychologist, perhaps prolonging his career another
six months. The film also features enough poised, professional, and slightly
otherworldly looking pre-teen girls for a decade’s worth of Poltergeist reboots.
