Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another Fantastic Fest review for ya', this time taking a look at the genre-shifting dramatic horror flick THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS.
Melanie is a special little girl. She's polite. She's kind. She's very, very smart and loves hearing and telling stories. She's also a zombie. Not the undead kind, but more the infected kind. Either way, under the right circumstances she'll lose control and rip your throat out.
I'm not familiar with Mike Carey's book, but the movie is something kind of unique. It could easily be seen as a YA style story, but it's way too dark, bloody and R-rated to be put on the shelf next to something like Warm Bodies. I think that weird niche it carved out is what's getting so much positive attention from critics. I've seen hyperbolic quotes calling this a wholly original take on a zombie film and talked to a few people at the fest that agree.
I loved the movie, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it the most original thing ever. It could just be coincidence, but it leans just as heavily on The Last of Us as Hunger Games does on Battle Royale. Last time I made that Hunger Games statement YA fans came out of the woodwork to tell me how the author never saw Battle Royale and while I'm happy to take her word for it you have to admit it's a hell of a coincidence if so.
The world here has been overrun with a fungal infection that takes root in the brain and turns people crazy. That should sound familiar to video game fans just by itself, but as the story unfolds it becomes more and more the look, feel and tone of The Last of Us. Don't get me wrong, that's pretty damn cool and the movie strikes its own path with how it works with its characters, but it almost does feel like an unofficial adaptation of one of the most cinematic games to be made in the last decade.
While I've already spoiled the fact that The Girl With All The Gifts is a zombie movie I highly suggest taking people in cold. The way the film is structured is you meet Melanie in a bunker and don't know what the fuck is going on for a good chunk of the first act. All you know is that this adorable, bright girl is held like a prisoner and treated like Hannibal Lector every time she's wheeled out to a makeshift school room, but she doesn't seem all that phased by it.
Bit by bit we're given glimpses of the dire straights the world is in before our leads are thrown out into it. Once this film becomes a road picture it really starts coming to life in ways that I didn't expect. You've got all these strong military and authority types traveling with this little girl they're all terrified of through a zombie wasteland.
Sennia Nanua is the find of this film. She plays young Melanie and brings an innocent wonder to the part that makes the movie soar. The story rests on the shoulders of this young infected-but-still-human character and Nanua is so instantly loveable and natural and radiates so much basic kindness that it's flat out shocking when she loses control and succumbs to her hunger from time to time.
Nanua is the key foundation of this movie and she's helped by her spectacularly cast co-stars, including Gemma Arterton as Melanie's teacher, Ms. Justineau, Paddy Considine as the dickish military blowhard Sgt. Parks an Glenn Close as Dr. Caldwell, the closest thing this film has to a straight up villain.
As Caldwell's character develops you understand why she chose to take part in this zombie movie. This is a primo role that Close sinks her rather significant teeth into. Caldwell is a little bit of a Frankenstein here, a mad scientist that is coldly detached as she strives for a cure. It's a great villain turn because at her core, she's the biggest hero of the entire film. Her intention is to save mankind and she's super close to doing just that. The problem is in order to do so she's gotta kill some kids and harvest their uniquely infected brains to do that.
She takes no pleasure from it, but she's also freakishly nonchalant about it, too. It's just something that needs to be done. It's a hell of set up for that character and Close, naturally, plays it with all the nuance the role calls for.
Arterton has a bit of a thankless job here, but she does great work. Her character has the most emotional connection to these children. They might have the capacity for great violence, but ultimately they're just regular kids. They're not mindless insane fungus zombie people, but something in between... living, sane human beings that can be triggered by their hunger and keen sense of smell into a more animalistic monster. She sees the monster side as a secondary characteristic whereas everybody else sees the monster first.
She represents the empathy left in humanity and her relationship with Melanie is the key to the success of the heavy emotion that sets this movie apart from the crowd. It's not as fun or flashy as the Glenn Close character or Considine's character, but it's the reason this movie works.
I'm pretty damn impressed with this movie. While I give it a teensy tiny itsy bitsy amount of shit for trending a little too close to The Last of Us, I can't deny that this film is a huge breath of fresh air not just for the zombie sub-genre, but for genre on the whole. I can't get over how this is basically an R-rated brainy Young Adult film. It's an interesting blend of familiar film tastes that makes something wholly new.
Definitely seek this one out when you get a chance. When else are you going to get to see Glenn Close rage-stabbing a zombie in the head?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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