PIGEON SHRINE FRIGHTFEST 2023 – Film Review

Classism, greed, and desperation permeate this classy feature debut from emerging talent Paris Zarcilla. A poignant glimpse into the immigrant experience in the UK through a horror movie filter that chooses nuance over sensationalism.

Undocumented and under pressure Filipina immigrant Joy is scraping a living under the radar. With her mischievous young daughter Grace in mind, she accepts a live-in off-the-books position caring for a wealthy terminally ill man at the bequest of his spiky niece Katherine.

What begins as a dream job quickly morphs into a convoluted living nightmare as Joy and Grace are dragged into a bitter power struggle that will test their wits, morals, and resolve.

There is a gritty kitchen sink realism to Raging Grace that reminded me of the class-based psychodramas of the 1960’s such as Joseph Losey’s acidic The Servant. However, it is much more akin to the scathing satirical bite of the Oscar-winning Parasite.

Director Paris Zarcilla has decorated his film with heartfelt manifestations of motherly love, childish impetuosity, and stoical hopefulness. Yet under the surface simmers, colonialist bigotry, entitled exploitation, and enforced gratitude. It is a film unafraid to wear its heart on its cultural sleeve while taking cynical lumps out of prejudicial superiority. It is this seamless blend of beauty and beastliness that makes Raging Grace such an engrossing watch.

Elegant plotting and sophisticated writing keep the audience guessing as events become ever more bizarre and motives and machinations reveal themselves. Well-executed horror set pieces up the dramatic ante as the audience awaits the impending twists and surprising end game.

In order to expose the rancid underbelly of unfettered classism Zarcilla first embeds his film with rounded characters and a believable scenario of tolerance through circumstance. This commitment to counter marginalisation points to a much higher artistic purpose than creating a horror picture. Indeed, considering many current governments throughout the world are actively dehumanising and denigrating immigrants for political gain, not least in the UK, it could be considered vital.

Put together with charismatic care it is no surprise this polished off-kilter fairytale scooped the prestigious Grand Jury Award at SXSW earlier this year. Never once during this gothic-tinged game of psychological cat and mouse does it jettison its core values of a single mother standing up to stereotyping and asinine preconceptions with quiet humility.

Shot with visual relish by Joel Honeywell he retains a tight leash on framing, space, and timing to generate tense hide-and-seek moments and more restrained ages of social realism with equal maturity. His cinematography is complemented beautifully by Jon Clarke’s astonishingly percussive score. Clarke may stem from a classical background but he allows his prestigious sound design skillset to shine here in a daring force of nature aural adventure that I suspect far exceeded the expectations of any remit he was given.

The exemplary cast embraces their roles with organic finesse leaving breathing room to expand into the more hysterical territory of the final third. They fashion an authentic tonal chemistry together affording what is essentially a chamber piece depth and scope.

Max Eigenmann plays Joy with a touching amalgam of despondency and dignity that strums multiple chords of empathy. Her life choices may have been curtailed by others, there is an abusive husband lurking in the wings, but her spirit and optimism remain unbowed.

Jaeden Paige Boadilla is magnificent as the titular Grace. An impish kid, who may or may not be a budding sociopath, who is both impossibly naive and ridiculously resilient. It’s an arresting performance that encapsulates the paradoxical bravado and trepidation of a challenging childhood.

Perhaps the finest performance comes from Leanne Best, who Ted Lasso fans will recognise as Jamie Tart’s mother, as Joy’s employer, the upper-class but unhinged Katherine. Best does a fabulous job of giving credence to a woman who would just as easily offer you a fat lip as an Earl Grey and eats like a child. Katherine is a damaged ball of thinly concealed contempt whose most endearing trait is that at least her contempt is universal. The fact we begin to indentify with this ghastly harridan of high maintenance is a credit to the actress.

A richly observed character study of a small family on a quest for a better life who get infected by one on a merciless hunt for an even more comfortable one, Raging Grace is an underdog tale for our times. Affecting and deceptively angry it transcends genre pigeonholing to become one of the most surprising films of the year.