The Aviary
Chris Messina plays a distinctive manipulating , egomaniacal cult leader who preaches shammer - intellectualism to immobilise vulnerable hoi polloi inThe Aviary , a thriller with some teeth . Malin Åkerman and Lorenza Izzo play two women with different account and perspectives as they become disillusioned by Seth ’s teachings and escape into the New Mexico desert . The Aviaryis an effective , compelling psychological thriller that will leave the audience guess throughout .
author - manager Chris Cullari and Jennifer Raite took on the challenge of confronting the subtle nature of cult . Their story does not condemn or dismiss their leads for falling into Seth ’s gob , despite one of them being an ambitious right - hand cleaning woman for much of her fourth dimension with him . There is an acknowledgment in both the script and in the lead actress ' performance that there is a strength within them that has countenance them to shatter the illusion . However , persistent and robust brainwashing is intemperate to overcome . Even worse , sample to overcome Seth ’s power when one is lost in the New Mexican desert — where the days are hot and dry and the night are bitterly cold — is heavy .
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The filmmaker act as with musical genre and conventions to keep the audience guess . Izzo and Åkerman , for deterrent example , flirt unreliable storyteller . They have both been manipulate , and as is illustrated in the film , Seth ’s tactics are disturbingly effective . Seth is always present with visual cues that have him seem during the day , seemingly harmless , and at night like a daemon straight from the gates of infernal region . Cullari and Raite do n’t use special personal effects in any usual manner ; the movie feel a lot less computer - generated , with much of the effects being practical . Most famous are the campfire scenes where strobe inflammation betoken Seth ’s brainwashing tactics .
To effectively showcase the fear and trauma Seth has visit on Jillian and Blair , the film maker require to be innovational with their filmmaking . It is n’t enough for Blair to tell how Seth seduce her or how Jillian intend she was doing something undecomposed with her work . As is the case with many small - budget genre films , the filmmaker call for to be uncoerced to find originative ways to show their character ’s mental decline , their paranoia , and the omnipresent danger that hang around all around them . Cullari and Raite managed to do all of that with what can be assumed was a shoestring budget with a pocket-size production squad .
Moving at a quick pace with whole performances crusade the story ahead , The Aviaryis a compelling watch . An impressive one even , as this is Cullari and Raite ’s feature debut . The film never concedes by giving one the answers before it is ready . While the pigboat - genre of cults is being thoroughly mine in both fictional and non - fictional works of belated , there is a gumption that the filmmakers have a hard savvy of what they are tackling .
The Aviarydoesn’t radically exchange the game for this subgenre of psychological thrillers , but it is a upstanding incoming . The filmmaking is effective and efficient . The functioning are strong and drive home the narrative . Chris Messina does a great job dally a very attractive religious cult leader . The New Mexico landscape painting is as beautiful as it is dangerous . Chris Cullari and Jennifer Raite show a strong understanding of the persuasive methods cult utilize and a with child batch of empathy for those trapped within them .
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The Aviaryopened in theaters , on digital , and on - demand on Friday , April 29 . The film is 96 minutes long and is rated R for language and some violent content .
Chris Messina in The Aviary
Lorenza Izzo in The Aviary
