ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE NEST"
Often, when you see a giant, creaky new home in a film that seems too good to be true, filled with more rooms than a family could possibly imagine filling, there's something deeply scary or troubling ahead. The giant English countryside mansion in THE NEST is a haunted home of sorts. It's a home that is about to haunt their new residents, not with ghosts and murder, but with greed, lies and broken dreams. Jude Law plays Rory, an ambitious entrepreneur and former broker who can bullshit his way through nearly any situation and come out on top. That's how he's built his career. He's an moved to America to take it over, to be at the top of the 1%, which didn't happen. He's now married to Allison (Carrie Coon), a mild mannered woman who trains horses and together they are raising two children, Samantha (Oona Roche) and Ben (Charlie Shotwell).
Rory is the kind of guy who seems like a loving family man but says mean off-handed comments like, "Oh, shut up woman" with no regard to how cruel it is. He also is the kind of guy who lets a photographer take a family picture without his stepdaughter, only to then call her over for a second picture to include them all. Yet, when we see the picture later, he only developed the first. He's not a great guy, but he's driven and successful. At least so far. He moves his family from America to England, saying that there's an offer that will take him to the top of the game. They've done this before, but Allison isn't thrilled to be moving yet again. The house Rory sets up for them is something out of a Victorian era drama. It's a giant mansion, far too large for them but just right in the over-reaching mind of Rory. The children attend private schools that, Rory reminds everyone over and over, were "very hard to get into." He ships Allison's favorite horse to their new home and basks in the warm glow of adoration from his new boss Arthur Davis (Michael Culkin). If all of this seems like a dream, it's because it is and because Rory acts before actually planning, it's all about to come crashing down.
THE NEST is Writer/Director Sean Durkin's follow-up to Martha Marcy May Marlene and he hits a home run again here, expertly filling the screen with tension in the biggest and smallest of moments. Set in the 1980's, it's a time of endless possibilities and endless greed that often came shattering down at the same time. Rory knows how to bullshit and close a deal, but he doesn't know much else. He doesn't know how to be real or even tell the truth, honestly. His life is him pretending to be rich and trying to impress everyone around him, which ends up being quite a hollow existence. Jude Law dazzles in the role, sucking you into his greed and power hungry world with a performance that's both utterly charming and repulsive at the same time. He crafts a character that you don't want to be, but one you definitely have known at some point. Carrie Coon's performance is much quieter and achingly powerful. With small glances and gazes into the distance, Coon shatters the screen with a heartbreak that's all too relatable. The other main star in the film is the cinematography by Mátyás Erély. Shot after shot, we see a devastatingly beautiful visual storybook into this world. From what feels like candlelit hallway shots to serene English countryside, the visuals will haunt you just as they do the flawed and scarred characters that inhabit them.
GRADE: A
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Sean Durkin STARRING Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Oona Roche, Charlie Shotwell, Michael Culkin, Adeel Akhtar. Now playing in limited theatres and on VOD everywhere. For more info: https://www.nestmovie.com/