In the 1980s, Jamie Lee Curtis was dubbed the Scream Queen for starring in such films as Halloween, Prom Night, Terror Train, The Fog, Roadgames, and then back again to Halloween II. Since then there have been other actresses who have been crowned with this moniker from Linda Blair, Neve Campbell, Danielle Harris, and most recently Mia Goth.
I would make a case that actress Maika Monroe has been building quite a resume' as the modern day Scream Queen with such films as It Follows, The Guest, Greta, and the recently reviewed Longlegs. But she is not in pure horror films per say. Maika chooses to be in films that might be deemed a thriller, but they are more than just a guy in a mask coming after you with a knife. Even her out-and-out horror films such as It Follows are elevated horror. The stories are usually a bit more thought-provoking. Because of this I would amend her title and I would call her a Suspense Queen.
Although Longlegs is a fairly large hit for her, she is mostly been in hidden gem films which is what makes her perfect for this website. I am going to review five of her earlier films that are a mixed bag of quality but are all very interesting for one reason or another.
The first of these films is Bokeh. I start with this film because it has one of my favorite concepts in storytelling. It goes something like this. A person goes to sleep, wakes up the next morning, and finds that everyone else has disappeared without any trace and without any explanation. It is my locked door mystery and I have seen it done well and I have seen it done not so well in books and movies. I have even attempted it myself but it can be a tricky concept to pull off because you have to balance sustaining the mystery of why everyone disappeared and then deciding how much of the payoff are you going to reveal. Too much and it becomes disappointing, too little and it becomes frustrating.
The film is essentially a two hander, with Malik Monroe playing Jenai and Matt O'Leary her boyfriend Riley. On vacation they wake up one morning and there is no one at their hotel to serve the continental breakfast. When they go outside, they don't see anyone walking around nor any cars in motion. There doesn't seem to be anyone anywhere . After a few unanswered phone calls to family members, they put together pretty quickly that they are the only two people left not just on this island, but in the world.
There is a lot to mine with a premise such as this and yet the characters seem to swallow their fate without much issue. I would have liked for there to be a bit more exploration in this section of their discovery. I have been watching the very excellent show Last Man on Earth that shows what people in such a situation might do and in just the first episode 20 minute episode they explore more than this film does.
In Bokeh they spend the middle part of the film sleeping in whatever hotel or house they want, taking whatever they desire from stores, and driving around the island without having to worry about any other residents or tourists. However their sole existence begins to wear on each of them as the reality of not having anyone else to help should they need it begins to sink in. Jenai even begins to wonder about her place in the universe and the role of God but this seems misplaced.
Ultimately, when the ending of the film finally does come, it feels very much like a cop out. Something that a lazy writer does when he cannot think of anything meaningful to actually happen. There are parts that make no sense such as why are there herds of horses and stray cats still wandering around yet most everything else seems to have vanished. I don't need an explanation as to why this event is happening but I do need it to follow a logic.
The movie is shot in Iceland and this makes for a breathtaking and interesting setting. Because Iceland is powered by geothermal power, the electricity, water, and other things that would shut down in a similar situation within days still work.
The film is very lyrical in nature. The dialogue is very sparse, with silence speaking much more than any words could provide. The haunting piano score makes one feel as though they are at a spa with scenes of fields of flowers, oceans, flowing streams, and grass covered hills. The imagery used in the film is beautiful, almost Terrence Malick-like.
The title of the film, Bokeh, is a puzzler and like most things, never explained in the film. When I looked it up it means a photographic effect when the background is blurred. That sums this film up pretty well in that the photography of the film is quite stunning but the story upon which it lies upon remains blurred and could have been focused better. Bokeh can be found on the streamer Peacock.
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