REVIEW: ATTACHMENT

• Director: Gabriel Bier Gislason
• Writer:  Gabriel Bier Gislason
• Stars: Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik

REVIEW

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, writer/director Gabriel Bier Gislason’s romantic horror film, Attachment, is hitting Shudder and it has all of the meet cute, awkward family meetings and amusing slip ups that you expect from a rom com, but this movie also has a dark side.

Maja (Josephine Park) is a has been actress who is barely existing after the death of her mother when she, quite literally, runs into Leah (Ellie Kendrick) and the chemistry is immediate and impossible for either of them to deny. After an unfortunate accident, Maja convinces Leah that she should travel back to her London home with her to help her recover. Leah lives in the same building as her mother, Chana, and it’s quickly established that these two have a much more complicated relationship than other mothers and daughters.

Though of Danish descent herself, Chana (Sofie Gråbøl) married a Jewish man and she fully adopted the religion and lifestyle, so that’s all Leah really knows as well: they also live in a devout Jewish neighborhood and Maja sticks out like a sore thumb. On one of her trips out, Maja happens to walk into a bookstore where she meets Lev (David Dencik) who immediately figures out that Maja is in way over her head, but she has no idea yet.

Attachment is a quietly sly movie about Jewish mysticism, Dybbuks and codependency that masquerades as a love story. Gislason’s mystery of who is possessed unfolds at just the right tempo while also making you question who the real villain of the story is. Park is magnetic as a lost soul who throws herself into love far too quickly, Gråbøl manages to show layers of a character that could have easily come off as just cold and, in the third act, Dencik shines with a subtle comedic tone that fits right in with the mild lunacy that occurs.

Ultimately, this is a possession story and when the time comes to confront the unwanted demon, well, it’s a bit of a letdown. The final solution also feels kind of like something that could have been done a long time ago, but perhaps I’m being too picky. Overall, Attachment tries and succeeds at telling a well worn story in a new and different way.

Attachment is streaming on Shudder February 9.

Lisa Fremont