Movie Review
The lack of energy in the first half and motivation in the second half never allows you to rationalize its story despite a decent turn by Anna Gunn and Linus Roache. Apology becomes a prisoner of its own creative choices and struggles to break free from its shackles.
Plot
The plot is tight on details, but we get enough information in the beginning. Darlene (Gunn) lost her young daughter Sally nearly twenty years ago. He still hasn't been found, but Darlene isn't giving up hope. At least that's how he convinces himself to stay sober and continue his solitary existence. Gretchen, his next-door neighbor in the wild surroundings, accompanies him and abandons him at night in a terrible thunderstorm before Christmas. But Darlene's night isn't over yet. Just as she's about to break her sobriety, a familiar face from all these years knocks on her door: Jack, her ex-brother-in-law.
As Jack's "confession" begins to unfold, that's where the real movie begins. Despite its apologies, the center loses its mystery and appeal very early on. Even halfway through, we learn the truth about Sally, and the lack of motivation to de-escalate the resulting chaos makes the revelation a dull affair to watch.
Locke laments how he can use setting and emotion with his actors. The hardest part of it all was blocking. What you might be thinking at this point is; How clumsy and dull the answers were, and how they weakened Locke's stories as the minutes ticked by.
When Jack spilled the beans that day, there were almost no close-ups or shots of Gunn's face. The background didn't help either, and all the elements that make these kinds of stories enjoyable to follow through to the end never seem to come into play. Emotionless is not fair to the actors as they try to do their best.
But Locke's inability to capture this shock, horror, and utter despair is what makes the entire first half unpleasant. Not to say the second one was drastically better, but it was an improvement as Darlene's personality changed. We saw more energy and urgency when Jack presented a weapon in the middle.
Locke manages to extract some joy from those moments of tension, but it leads nowhere. Although the problem here is the execution, the concept also seems very fragile. In retrospect, Locke doesn't have much to go on for 90 minutes. With only two characters and no outside interference, there will always be how much the audience can engage with Darlene and Jack's history. And at times it seemed to move the story forward. But the abruptness with which everything falls apart in "Sorry" is unfortunate.
In many cases, the building has a certain weight. It is possible to extract something special from them, but in the case of Excuses, it is impossible to say. There is only so much that actors can do on their own, where all their problems begin. In the second half of the night, Gunn goes full "Walter White" and faces the perplexing task of activating the vengeful streak in his character. He has a good sense of Darlene's indifference, heartbreak and desperation. Gunn's very natural approach allows us to see Darlene adjust to the situation and gradually work her way out. But the thought process is too shallow to make an impact.
Overall
The Apology is a horror movie with minimal trickery and subtlety. The lack of props for the plot makes it an enjoyable viewing experience, and unlike most of the films Shudder has to offer. The geeko counter is not kind to this amazing thriller, even if it can be called that.
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