Indie Movie Review – The Return

I’m blaming the reticular activating system which, as I’m sure you all know, is a bunch of neurons near the hypothalamus in the brain stem.  What it does is process your sensory inputs and prioritizes how they are acted on. Know how you never notice a Citroen C4 Cactus (other makes and models are available) until after you’ve bought one and then every second car you see is a Citroen C4 Cactus? That’s thanks to the reticular activating system.  Similarly, it now seems to me that every other film I see has been made in, made by, or starring people from Canada.

The Return is one of those films. I’m sure there are many reasons why Canada is getting so big in the cinema sphere: at first glance and hear they might be coming from Hollywood; it looks like the USA but has loads of government subsidies, and there are loads of talented Canadians but we just assume they’re American…like Jim Carrey, Dan Ackroyd, Michael J Fox, Sandra Oh, and Anna Paquin, to name but a few. It may not seem vital but it just seems to me that quite a few of the films I get sent to look at are more Tim Horton’s than Starbucks.

The World’s Most Indispensable Movie App

The RunPee app tells you the best times to
run & pee during a movie
so you don't miss the best scenes.

As seen on

Download the RunPee app.
100% free (donation supported)

     

Read more about the RunPee app.

Beavering Away In The Basement

The Return, I’ll admit, confused me more than somewhat. The story tells of a brilliant college student, Rodger Emmerlich – Richard Harmon, returning to the family home he’s inherited following the death of his father, Oswald Emmerlich – Erik Athervale. On arrival, it turns out that the thing that had put him into therapy as a child hasn’t actually gone away. According to the trailer, that thing is a “naked murder ghost,” which seems to keep appearing in clouds of black smoke. Without giving away any more than the trailer does, the film deals with the discovery of the thing, finding out what it is, and working out how to get rid of it.

Thrown into the mix is his alcoholic physicist mother, Esme Emmerlich – Gwendolyn Collins, and his sister Amelia – Zoe Fish. These two both die off-screen, early in the proceedings. Mum’s lab is the centre of events and is located in a huge basement full of dry wipe boards and empty cardboard boxes. Oh…and the ghost is played by Kristen Sawatzky. Ultimately (again, according to the trailer) there seems to be a fight scene with a ray gun, so like the one in Ghostbusters that I wanted to shout “don’t cross the streams”…until I remembered that there was only one of them.

What’s Going On?

The things that confused me could have been quite easily sorted with a wee bit more exposition in the first ten minutes. Rodger travels from college to the house with two women, Beth – Sara Thompson and Jordan – Echo Andersson, and I struggled to work out what the relationship was between them. I knew that Rodger had a sister, but for the first part of the film, I thought Jordan was his sister, then a childhood friend, then a college friend. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to put money on how Rodger and Jordan met. Throw in that there seem to be huge unexplained gaps in what happened to Rodger between his early teens and the present day…

But, despite that, The Return proved to be eminently watchable. OK, there is a glaring continuity error surrounding Jordan’s chin, an escape that involved getting a particular blade out of a Swiss Army knife single-handed (a feat that cost me three fingernails proving it couldn’t be done), and the most unbelievable sex scene ever (surely you’d just leave a T-shirt or bra on rather than clutching the sheet so tightly), but despite those little niggles, the standards of cinematography and acting made it a not unpleasant way to spend an hour and a half.

If the writers, Ken Janssens and director BJ Verot, had made things a wee bit clearer, I’d have been a very happy camper.

Movie Grade: B-

What people are saying
about the RunPee app.

dd33803, 07/05/2023

This is a great app. I wish more people would support it

This app provides info about movies, reviews, ratings from people who have seen it before and after viewing. It has links to info about the movies. It let’s you know when there will be a lull in the action and how long it will last. If you want to know what happens during that time, you can check the brief synopsis (you have to click a link, so no accidental spoilers). It has a timer you can set (silent) to alert you to a break. It also tells you whether there is anything extra during or after the credits. It’s really a wonderful app. I’ve subscribed for a couple of years to support the developers, but I noticed some of the links to provide feedback didn’t seem to work today. They also made it free, with voluntary donations to see the pee-times. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to do so, and subscribe if you like it. I really hope the app is supported so it can continue to be maintained!

Developers note: RunPee doesn’t make much money but it supports itself nicely. Donations are appreciated, but not required. We’ll add as many movies to the database as we can until there are no more movie theaters.

View all reviews: Apple App Store | Google Play Store

     

A Return to Americana – Drive In Movie Theaters Are Back in Style

Rob Williams

Former teacher, lecturer, homelessness administrator, pharmacy dispenser now happily retired, happily married, and a very happy granddad. I live next to the Mersey but on the side Daniel Craig and Taron Egerton come from rather than the side the Beatles came from!