Glasshouse – Review
97 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Emma Lungiswa De Wit and Kelsey Egan
Directed by Kelsey Egan

Synopsis:

Confined to their glasshouse, a family survives The Shred, a toxin that erases memory. Until the sisters are seduced by a Stranger who shatters their peace and stirs a past best left buried.

Though I haven’t watched any of the various cinematic versions of The Beguiled, I am familiar with the premise and general story. While Glasshouse bears some surface resemblance to it, I believe it delves a bit deeper into some headier themes.

Instead of a simple tale of isolation, innocence, and jealousy in a time of war, Glasshouse delves a bit deeper into the idea of security, memory, and identity.

While there have been a great many “pandemic” movies made in the last couple years, The Shred, as we learn, is beyond a simple disease that kills the body. No; to breathe the air is to become infected. It kills the memory in degrees, so while the infected continue to live, they lose their past, and so, as we know, their identities. The more they breathe, the more they lose.

In the Glasshouse, a strange, Jane Austen-esque homescape of dresses and bonnets (converted into masks/filters for protection), is run by “Mother,” the three daughters, Bee, Evie, and Daisy, and one son, Gabe, who was exposed to The Shred as a child and has trouble remembering the rules and rituals Mother has established to keep them safe.

Bee finds herself irrationally attracted to The Stranger, whom she failed to kill while on sentry duty (despite that being a rule) and believes is “Luca,” her “brother” who left the safety of the Glasshouse to see if life had returned to some normality outside their secure environs, if The Shred had loosened its grip on the minds of humanity. Evie struggles to convince her that he cannot be Luca, that he must be sent away, but Mother has other plans.

Without giving too much away, I was very much put in mind of some of the societal developments in other post-apocalyptic stories such as The Day of the Triffids or 28 Days Later.

And that is the real crux of what makes the film compelling for me: what does it take, and what will you do to preserve and protect a society or way of life? What can be sacrificed and what must be maintained to survive?

The performances here are all top notch, with Jessica Alexander’s Bee very effective as a young woman trying to figure out a world she believes she understands, Brent Vermeulen as The Stranger/Luca walks a fine line between sincere and calculating, and Kitty Harris’ young Daisy is a glimpse of what the world might once have been like had The Shred not stolen it from everyone.

But Anja Taljaard’s Evie, relegated to a supporting role for most of the film, is expertly spun into prominence by the climax, as secrets we didn’t even know were being kept are revealed, and her true importance is discovered.

Some beautiful cinematography and set design enhance both the beauty and the horror of their situation, compounded by the lack of a trustworthy narration, kept my attention firmly on every word, wondering which ones would end up the most important.

Definitely check this one out. It’s a great watch.

Glasshouse is available on Digital and On Demand now and stars Jessica Alexander, Anja Taljaard, Hilton Pelser, Adrienne Pearce, Brent Vermeulen, and Kitty Harris.

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