Review: The Blackcoat's Daughter (2017)

[Mark R. Leeper]

THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: Mysterious goings-on go on at an all-girl
Catholic school over winter break. The film is shot
with an excess of style that got in the way of the
coherence. The freezing setting of upstate New York
reaches into the tone of the entire film and even the
spirit of the viewer. The ambience is certainly
creepy, but the story seems to take forever to get to
where it is going and too much is obscured by unclear
voices and darkly photographed, often rear-lit, scenes.
The film is written and directed by Oz Perkins who went
on to write and direct the similarly indistinct I AM
THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE. Rating:
low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10

Watching this film is like stepping into a large freezer. In cold
and icy upstate New York is Bramford, a prestigious Catholic school
for girls. The school is decorated in a color scheme of metallic
blue and gray, symbolizing complete rejection anything warm and
human. Director (and writer) Oz Perkins clearly wants to take even
more humanity from its characters and show them as silhouettes
against the blue light coming off the fields of snow outside.
Sadly, this makes the main characters look too similar and even
with a small cast it is hard for the viewer to keep track who each
one is.

It is the beginning of the February winter break. (In fact, the
film was originally titled FEBRUARY.) The parents should have
collected the girls to take home. At least that was the plan.
Rose (played by Lucy Boynton) and Kat (Kiernan Shipka) were not
picked up and the headmaster of the school has to make special
arrangement for them to stay in the building. A third girl, Joan
(Emma Roberts) ends sitting at a bus stop late at night. We do not
know how she fits in or why. We do know that Rose has arranged to
miss winter break so she will not have to face her parents and tell
them that she and her boyfriend have on the way a little problem
together.

That is still early in the movie and there is a lot more to go
before the horror of the film kicks in. Director Perkins knows how
to shoot his scenes to build tension. Oddly, we know not why this
part of the story has us on edge, but it foreshadows what is to
come. Still we may not be sure who, if anyone, will be menacing
whom. When the violence occurs--and yes, it is coming--it is kept
out of sight of the camera. There is no gore distastefully shaken
in the face of the viewer.

The photography is good, but it is at odds with the story telling.
It is hard to tell the school girls apart in half-light. It is
even hard to tell a blonde from a girl with darker hair when they
are both lit from behind. The film uses darkness and slow pacing
much as German Expressionism did. The musical score in the main
body of the film is mostly electronic music so it does not feel
organic. I missed what the title referred to. THE BLACKCOAT'S
DAUGHTER takes a long time to get where it is going, and where it
is going is familiar territory. I rate the film a low +1 on the -4
to +4 scale or 5/10. THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER has played at film
festivals and was released to theaters March 31.

Film Credits:
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3286052/combined>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_blackcoats_daughter>


Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2017 Mark R. Leeper