Karyn Kusama’s THE INVITATION is a stunning, intense film. After an absence following the 2009 release of JENNIFER’S BODY (we were all wrong on that one, by the way – that flick is pretty damn sweet), Kusama has returned with an incredible psychological tale that will leave you in knots.
The story takes place over the course of an evening at a dinner party. A group of friends are invited to the home of Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and her new partner David (Michiel Huisman) in the Hollywood Hills to reconnect after a period of estrangement. At the center of this story is Will (Logan Marshall-Green), Eden’s ex-husband and perhaps the guest with the most trepidation at the circumstances surrounding the evening’s events. The past two years have been incredibly difficult for Will and Eden, with their separation following a tragic loss. Now, he has returned to the home they once shared and is assaulted by memories of a past he has been trying to come to terms with.
Eden and David have recently returned from Mexico, having embraced a new-age philosophy that they claim has given them peace and released them from any emotional pain that life can throw at them. In reality, their behavior is strange, to say the least. What begins as a couple of people embracing an alternate viewpoint and maybe trying a little too hard to convince their friends of their newfound clarity quickly becomes cause for suspicion. Especially when coupled with bars on the windows, doors locked from the inside and a general sense of things just being off. Added into the mix are two new friends, Sadie (Lindsay Burdge) and Pruitt (John Carrol Lynch), who contribute greatly to feelings of unease the rest of the guests with their increasingly bizarre behavior.
THE INVITATION really is a master class in tension building. Every moment contributes, every plot detail matters. It plays like a coiled spring, winding tighter and tighter over the course of 90 minutes, before finally exploding with unimaginable force. Kusama elegantly sets up an atmosphere of suspense, distrust and suspicion. If the behavior and general personas of David and Eden aren’t unsettling enough, add in the building suspicion from Will and the situation is a veritable powder keg. Do David and Eden have ulterior motives in inviting everyone here or is the conspiracy is all in Will’s head – a manifestation of the guilt and stress of the emotional evening taking hold of his conscious mind?
Kusama delivers a well-constructed, brilliantly paced story, highlighted by some incredible performances from the actors – particularly from Marshall-Green, who does a great job at balancing Will’s sadness with the unease and suspicion that he can’t seem to shake. Equally as enthralling is John Carol Lynch as newcomer Pruitt. Overly polite, yet somehow sinister, he amplifies the uncertainty and alters the dynamic of the group, as the various members work to incorporate him into the circle.
Kusama employs a very slow build, but one that does not waste a second toward inching toward its final frenzied climax. An inescapable sense of dread permeates the picture and grows slowly over the course of the story. The psychological tension, the claustrophobic setting, the growing sense of uncertainty and the underlying sense of guilt and loss all contribute to this escalation and to fashioning an unforgettable film.
Really, the less said the better. It’s one to go into as blindly as the characters themselves and to experience alongside them. Suffice it to say that THE INVITATION was most definitely worth the wait, and is a film you won’t soon forget.
