What I like about O’Brien’s film (which he also wrote), is that while its themes are easy to understand, the way the filmmaker brings them to the screen is unique and harrowing. The basic plot is an ex-priest named Frederic has lost his daughter during a tragic accident. We learn the daughter was actually adopted by he and his wife (Henry Czerny, Mimi Kuzyk). But the film elaborates more, too. We learn Frederic left the priesthood after meeting his wife, and deals with a great amount of guilt regarding this.
This is O’Brien’s first feature directorial effort, but by no means his first time behind the camera. And what I like about the film is he lays out brooding and symbolic material that can be analyzed, or enjoyed simply as is. He asks serious questions like ‘can you just leave the priesthood?’ or ‘what happens to a relationship when a child is lost?’ and does so in a way that is not preachy, but everyday. On top of this he layers a third character, Aaron (played excellently by O’Brien himself), who offers answers—should that be what you want. But there’s so much more to gain from “The Righteous” than the obvious arcs the director sets before us. I last saw O’Brien (and Czerny, for that matter) in the horror/comedy “Ready or Not.” “The Righteous” is far from that film; it’s an introspective piece and makes no bones about it.
The film’s cinematography is a marvel. Early shots remind one of films like “The Exorcist” or Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “Vampyr.” The black and white presentation illuminates hollow images, its characters’ guilt and personal torture, and it’s all the more monstrous as O’Brien and cinematographer Scott McClellan let these themes wash over us visually and thematically. Nothing in “The Righteous” is in your face, and the film is all the better for it.
“The Righteous” really hits as two films. On the one hand, it is a narrative yet visual piece. It shows the effect on one couple over the loss of their adoptive daughter, and how their guarded lives fall apart when they are visited by a stranger, played by O’Brien. But on the other hand, the film is even more sophisticated than this; it uses visuals, insinuations, and narration to show how trying to bury the past—and your feelings—can have deleterious effects.
There’s an obvious question “The Righteous” asks about sin and how God may punish those who wrong Him (and there’s even a wonderful scene where Frederic explains why he’s more afraid of God than the devil that chills you to the core). But there’s a more subtle question about living with tremendous pain and repressing it to the point it doesn’t exist. Aaron showing up rips the threads of silence apart with catastrophic results until the worst imaginable situation presents itself. However, is it reality, or O’Brien’s belief of how such repression eats at your soul until it kills you? Answers are less subtle. “The Righteous” is a movie that makes you think when the credits roll, a hallmark of good cinema.
The acting is good all around. And while this is ultimately a two-man show between Czerny and O’Brien, Mimi Kuzyk and Kate Corbett, who plays the deceased child’s biological mother, turn in cementing performances. A scene where Corbett tries to find out how the couple is doing at the film’s beginning is especially apt. Everyone wants to talk about this tragedy but the couple it happened to. And with stellar dialogue and pensive, lingering cameras, O’Brien lets us feel this movie where it would have been so easy to just show it.
I was also impressed with O’Brien for creating an enigmatic character unlike those we’ve seen him play before. It’s laudable that O’Brien’s character fits into this narrative well, and there are no signs here that he wrote Aaron’s character simply for himself. He comes up with some really harrowing dialogue; the one that hits the hardest being a story he tells Frederic in the middle of the night, talking about childhood, regret, and hatred.
There’s a lot you could say about “The Righteous,” but to say too much is to give away too much. The film is a lot of things. It’s an introspection, a horror film, a thriller, and a meditation on unease. But, under it all, it is a treatise on dealing with death and trying to bury the past. The movie is also unnerving; I hope that it finds its way to the Big Screen or streaming platforms (preferably for the fall!) so that it can find the audience it needs. If you get the chance to watch this film, it’s not likely to disappoint.
“The Righteous” is part of our continuing coverage of Fantasia International Film Festival. The film premiered on August 15th at 9:30 EST.
