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Exorcism (The ExorcismUnited States/2024). Address: Joshua John Miller. Script: Joshua John Miller, MA Fortin. Photography: Simon Duggan. Edition: Gardner Gould, Matthew Woolley. Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, David Hyde Pierce. Qualification: Suitable for over 16 years. Distributor: Imagem Films. Duration: 93 minutes. Our opinion: regular.
It is likely that the story that appears as the backdrop for the premiere of Exorcism be much more interesting than the movie itself. Apparently, the definitive boost came with the unexpected success of The exorcism of the Pope (2023), one of the many unique titles that Russell Crowe starred in in this twilight stage of his career. The event went from the screen to the platforms, and then to a parade of memes on social networks that generated such enthusiasm that a sequel has already been commissioned. That strange phenomenon determined the fate of Exorcism, a kind of meta-narrative about a once famous actor – and fallen from grace due to addictions – chosen to play a priest in a satanic horror film. “Cinema within cinema” could be the brief definition, and also the alibi for releasing this film, delayed since its filming in 2019, whose initial platform destination ended up changing for a landing in theaters.
But Exorcism It has another even more significant germ. Director Joshua John Miller is the son of Jason Miller, the actor who played none other than Father Karras in The Exorcist (1973), William Friedkin’s popular landmark and mother of all satanic horror classics. And that becomes clear when we think about the point of view that the film offers. The story begins with a short prologue. An actor reviews his lines while walking around an imposing film set. He climbs the false stairs while repeating prayers and admonitions in solitude. Suddenly, a shock effect and the cavernous voice of his replacement confirms the tragic destiny hidden in that interrupted rehearsal. His replacement is Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe), an unemployed actor with conscience problems after the death of his wife and the estrangement of his daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins). It is she who is going to tell us this story.
The starting point of Exorcism It’s promising. An actor whose ghosts make him the perfect candidate to play a tormented priest. There are the silenced abuses of his childhood as an altar boy, his adult success marked by irresponsibility and addictions, the torment of his present due to professional failure and family disintegration. The entry into the character’s inner darkness occurs with visual astuteness, an appropriate use of darkness in the settings and the ambiguity of time offered by the point of view of Lee, a teenager who seeks possible reconciliation with his father. But as filming begins on that film that clouds Anthony, the temptation to limit his crisis to the most pedestrian effects of terror, to biblical readings and sound shocks, and to an aesthetic that borders on parody, confines Miller’s film. in the trap of their own shortcomings.
Crowe holds his character with conviction during his slow descent into the hell of guilt – an explicit subtext of possession – but his craft is not enough to offer unity to a story nourished by scattered fragments of a personal experience – that of the director and his famous father –, attached to that of the medium and its language – the distance offered by the very concept of metanarrative – and wasted in the attempt to exploit ironic consumption and get some effective meme rather than a good movie. The impact of Exorcism in the hearts – and in the humor – of the viewers will have the last word, but within the limits of the screen, the result does not seem very inspiring.
