‘Krisha’ cleans ‘Turkey’ for dinner.
For a plot of a film, how about an old lady in her twilight years shows up at her sister’s bungalow after a long haul on Thanksgiving day and proposes to ‘cook dinner (Turkey)’ for their estranged relatives under a psychological pressure? Yes, that is the plot of Krisha. Sounds unbelievable, uninteresting or too thin for a film to base on it? But ‘Krisha’ turns out to be a powerful film about self-destruction at one’s own hand. It is nerve-racking, hypnotic sometimes — thanks to the unique music and the drama that unfolds naturally without any melodrama.
‘Krisha’ chops vegetables and stuff the ‘Turkey’.
Krisha is an alcoholic and abuser who promises that she has got her shit together. Her family believes her, so do we, and why not, she sports such a confidence and charm in the opening scene. Trey Edward Shults has used the bungalow of his own relative and majority of the cast members in the film is from his own family. This is the reason why the film feels more like a documentary of real events than a fictional account. Possibly, many gossips among the relatives in the film is true.
‘Krisha’ puts Turkey in an oven.
The scenes are chopped quite abruptly but then it actually helps the film. You see so many characters coming, going and talking, randomly. In between, Krisha strikes random conversations with her sister and brother in law. Krisha attempts to speak with her own son. Midst of all these, the tension in the third act builds to a new height and you could sense ‘the one big happy family reunion’ go haywire.
‘Krisha’ takes out the delicious brownish Turkey, and it’s ready to serve.
The central performance by ‘Krisha Fairchild’, who is the aunt of Shults in real life, as an emotionally vulnerable person who wants to get back to her life and son but simply could not by virtue of her unconsciously self-destructive behavior, is raw, heartbreaking and simply splendid.
★★★★★
