O Melhor Filme de Terror de 2023? Discover what makes you so different from the rest!

“Talk to me. I’ll let you in.”

The new Australian horror from A24, the studio responsible for hits such as “Midsommar”, “X” and “Hereditary”, achieved huge hype and was named the best horror film of 2023. But why does “Talk to Me” see in the formula from basic supernatural horror a valve to differentiate itself among the rest? From directors Michael and Danny Philippou, “Talk to Me” has the gift of preserving and taking possession of the best that its characters offer in their broad complexity. Their quick deaths are not interesting to them, but their visceral agony and mental exhaustion throughout the film are.

_{Watch the trailer for “Fale Comigo” (Reproduction/YouTube/Diamond Films)}

Plot of “Talk to Me”

The beginning is quick and shocking. At a party surrounded by drunk young people, one of them is found alone by his older brother in one of the rooms, saying disjointed and clearly bad things. As they left the room, dozens of cell phone cameras pointed at them caught the young man stabbing his brother and then killing himself by sticking the knife in his own face. There's nothing loose about this scene.

Living with the absence of her mother after a questionably accidental overdose and the barrier of lack of trust and dialogue with her father, Mia (Sophie Wilde) sees in the family of her best friend, Jade (Alexandra Jensen), the comfort she was looking for in the midst of the emptiness externo e interno que sentia em casa. Sue (Miranda Otto), Jade's mother, and Riley (Joe Bird), younger brother, complete the borrowed family project that the young woman cherished, even if Jade seemed a little uncomfortable with their presence at certain times. In addition to family conflicts, Mia was far from popular and well accepted among her friend's friends.

In a not so parallel way, a dangerous challenge is circulating on the internet in which people you know carry out a kind of supernatural ritual using an embalmed hand to contact unknown spirits without any type of preparation or caution. One of the aspects of the film is highlighted and reaffirmed: the necessity and naturalness of banal and dangerous exposition.

_{Sophie Wilde as Mia (Photo: reproduction/Instagram/@dimondfilmsbr)}

2At a party at one of Jade's friends' house, Mia volunteers to participate in the challenge. The rules are clear. “Talk to me” is the first command, which immediately makes the “player” see an obsessive spirit in front of him. Like Russian roulette, you never know who you'll talk to. The second command is “I let you in” and must never remain connected to the hand for more than 90 seconds, or the individual's soul belongs to it and its particular threshold. Like a drug, the use of the hand awakens in the person a kind of frenzy and addiction for more. And it is in more, increased by the need for acceptance and non-conformity with grief that “Talk to Me” develops in a surprising and distressing way.

Don't go to the cinemas expecting “Talk to Me” to be a film that will give you banal scares every five minutes of screen time and give you deaths just to fill the time with a weak script. The Philippou film doesn't need to and doesn't fit into this pattern and that's why it's a pleasant surprise for horror fans. With specific and necessary scares, the film seeks resources in drama and human duality to support the narrative of a hitherto unprecedented curse and explanations, which will possibly be in the sequel, already confirmed by A24.

Com um orçamento baixo de US$4,5 milhões, o filme se firma na tensão e agonia das cenas, ambientes, atuações, trilha sonora e jogos de câmera, que fazem a qualidade das maquiagens não serem problemas notáveis e importantes no desempenho geral. E por falar em atuação, Sophie Wilde e o jovem Joe Bird entregam com excelência personagens que prendem, convencem e assustam o público na mesma medida. Is Mia the good girl or the villain in this story? Are your attitudes commendable or reprehensible? A protagonista que desde o início se mostra alguém desconectado e destacado do contexto em que vive, encontra na mão e na imaginária presença da mãe, um caminho ainda mais tortuoso para sua perda de identidade e dissociação da realidade, jornada essa em que o público se Immerse yourself next to Mia, as you see Riley in complete despair fighting for life or the peace of death. Or maybe not?

_{Joe Bird as Riley in “Fale Comigo” (Photo: reproduction/Instagram/@diamondfilmsbr)}

Conclusion in an ending open to interpretation

Sem se alongar mais que o necessário, “Fale Comigo” apresenta um final propositalmente aberto e passível de interpretações diferentes, mas acaba não deixando muitas pontas soltas, apenas há naturalmente a necessidade de entender como aquele amuleto maligno surgiu e o que de fato acontece com who is carried away by him. Com uma margem para uma continuação tão pertinente quando o filme de 2023, Michael e Danny Philippou entregaram ao público um terror jovem, convincente, persuasivo, amedrontador e instantaneamente marcante, usando do clichê da possessão demoníaca para destacar-se como um longa pra lá de original.

Notice:

10/10

Featured photo: Sophie Wilde as Mia in “Talk to Me”. Photo/reproduction/Instagram/@diamondfilmsbr