Sundance 2022: Resurrection Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Slow burn films only work if the payoff is there. When it comes to Resurrection, that fact is debatable but audiences will be better served going into it knowing as little as possible. That being said, having someone of the caliber of Rebecca Hall attached as both as a lead and executive producer will certainly be enough to convince a large portion to at least give it a look. Whatever one may think of the film at the end, her performance is undeniably great as it gives it a compelling emotional center. Though she keeps the film watchable, that won’t be enough for everyone while its dark subject matter will also inevitably not be for everyone. Pushing a tense atmosphere as the story foreshadows darkness just below the surface, audiences are sure to feel uncomfortable. However without giving anything away, the big issue will likely be what the film eventually does or maybe fails to do with it.

Resurrection follows a woman named Margaret (Hall) whose perfectly balanced personal and professional lives were put in jeopardy following the reemergence of a man named David (Roth) into her life for whom she shared a troubled past. While it’s unclear at least right away what that troubled past was, his arrival certainly put her on edge unlike the reputation she had created for herself. Believing she had finally escaped him now 20 years later, his return was not a coincidence as he clearly had some nefarious motivation for reappearing in her life as there was some unfinished business between them. Trying to be free of him once and for all, Margaret found herself once again under David’s spell as the two embarked in a psychological battle of sorts. Over the course of the film and as the stakes kept growing, that troubled past came to light and suffice it to say, it will not be for the feint of heart. Though in the end, something had to give but that outcome was never a sure thing as things truly got wild.

At the end of the day, the best part of Resurrection was of course the excellent performance from Hall as Margaret. Essentially carrying the weight of the film on her shoulders and pulling out more from what was arguably there, she sells the darkness and the emotional toll it has taken on her with one particular moment standing out as the epitome of that where she got to show off her talents. Meanwhile, Roth was a scene-stealer as David, an incredibly charming yet devious psychopath. Their chemistry was so strong that one can’t help but not look away despite the film’s dark subject matter.

Resurrection is not an easy watch but is yet another showcase for Rebecca Hall.

*still courtesy of Sundance

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.