The first thing that comes to mind when trying to review this film is that as a spectator - I don't like being left in the dark. When a film raises clever questions with a compelling story and a thrilling set up - then I believe it has to follow through. The answers need to be logical, preferably with a good surprising twist that ties all the loose ends and leaves no plot holes. Considering all this - The Monitor/Babycall has sadly failed.
Like other similar films (i.e Naboer, which is by the same director) The Monitor/Babycall feels strange and surreal, and constantly gives the uneasy feeling that you're missing something. The excellent acting helps, and the characters of Anna and Helge/Henry seem to be a match made in heaven - one is an overprotective semi-hysterical mother, the other an odd, shy, slightly clumsy and almost antisocial salesman. Both of them anxious to the point of neurosis.
But again, that feeling like you're missing something comes to a very anticlimactic conclusion by the end, when only a short and empty answer is given, leaving many plot holes and far too many ways in which the audience can interpret the events. That feel like cheating, like instead of thinking the story through - the real work was left to us spectators.
It's a shame. The film has lots of potential to be great and reach the levels of films with similar stories like The Uninvited (Hollywood remake of Japanese film A Tale of Two Sisters) and even The Sixth Sense. Instead - well, if you watch it, you'll get the picture.
Like other similar films (i.e Naboer, which is by the same director) The Monitor/Babycall feels strange and surreal, and constantly gives the uneasy feeling that you're missing something. The excellent acting helps, and the characters of Anna and Helge/Henry seem to be a match made in heaven - one is an overprotective semi-hysterical mother, the other an odd, shy, slightly clumsy and almost antisocial salesman. Both of them anxious to the point of neurosis.
But again, that feeling like you're missing something comes to a very anticlimactic conclusion by the end, when only a short and empty answer is given, leaving many plot holes and far too many ways in which the audience can interpret the events. That feel like cheating, like instead of thinking the story through - the real work was left to us spectators.
It's a shame. The film has lots of potential to be great and reach the levels of films with similar stories like The Uninvited (Hollywood remake of Japanese film A Tale of Two Sisters) and even The Sixth Sense. Instead - well, if you watch it, you'll get the picture.