The Front Room is being advertised as a horror/thriller, but it very much is not. It is a psychological, dark comedy melodrama about the fears of impending motherhood, written/directed by men. It is a battle of wills between a soon-to-be mother and her husband’s formerly estranged, ultra-religious, ultra-judgmental, step-mom. Instead of the mother-in-law from hell, it’s one who believes she speaks directly for Jesus. There is nothing supernatural here. This isn’t Rosemary’s Baby. It is a nightmare about a woman losing control of her life, first due to pregnancy, then because of the woman she almost instantly regrets inviting into her home.
The debut of writing/directing duo Max and Sam Eggers (whose brother, Robert, has had success as a filmmaker with The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman) mixes tense family drama, misleading horror tropes and campy dark humor in a combination that is entertaining, despite them missing some easy swings at race and gender issues. They show promise here, yet come close to dropping into exploitation at times. What keeps The Front Room (87 minutes, without the end credits) moving along are its two central performances and its strange sense of humor, though it’s still not enough for this to shift into that next gear.
Belinda and Norman are about to be parents and have just moved into a new house they can’t quite afford. After the death of Norman’s father, Belinda talks him into taking in his step-mom, Solange, even in the face of Norman’s concerns (she was vaguely abusive when he was a child). Solange promised them she will leave them a not insubstantial amount of money for letting her live with them, so Belinda swallows her disrespect. However, eventually, it becomes obvious that this situation is untenable.
Some of the suspense comes from the idea that Solange, as hateful as she is, is physically helpless, thus Belinda and Norman can’t fully unleash their anger upon her. Belinda feels guilty whenever she grows frustrated or scared of Solange’s presence. Solange certainly isn’t imposing, but she knows things she shouldn’t know and is casually racist. How much can Belinda take, knowing that Solange will pay for their house and make it easier for them to care for their baby? The answer is a lot, at least up to the point where it seems like Solange thinks she should be the baby’s mother.
The Front Room is a lot sillier than it is creepy. This balance is nearly successful because of the performances of Brandy Norwood as Belinda and Kathryn Hunter as Solange. Brandy moves effortlessly between pity, disgust, desperation and anger as she deals with this monster taking over her life. Hunter somehow teases humanity in this self-satisfied creature, who looks down on anyone who doesn’t believe as she does, then yanks it away with an off-putting cackle. She acts sorry for herself to deflect any criticism, before going right back to manipulating her hosts. Both of them find humor in this awful relationship, with Hunter playing everything with a devious energy and Brandy acting as straight-woman, until she can’t handle it anymore.
The Front Room keeps feeling like things are going to escalate, yet they really don’t. Solange plays the senior-citizen-as-baby caricature, while scheming for control. Belinda sees it, without being sure what to do about it. Norman, meanwhile, is a pretty bland nonentity. Even when Belinda hits her breaking point, this doesn’t tilt into full-scale chaos. There is a version of this movie that goes over-the-top into lunacy. There is definitely the sense that the Eggers brothers have something fascinating in them. This isn’t it, but it’s a decent introduction.
3 out of 5
Cast:
Brandy Norwood as Belinda
Kathryn Hunter as Solange
Andrew Burnap as Norman
Written/Directed by Max Eggers and Sam Eggers
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