Director: Michael
Chaves Lead Cast: Linda
Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Marisol Ramirez, Patricia Velasquez, Roman Christou,
Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen Screenwriters: Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis
Producers: Gary Dauberman, Emile Gladstone Editor: Peter
Gvozdas Musical Director: Joseph Bishara
Cinematographer: Michael Burgess
Genre: Horror Distributor: Warner Bros. Location: California, US Running Time: 1 hr 33 min
Technical
assessment: 3
Moral
assessment: 3
CINEMA
rating: V14
MTRCB rating: PG
A portrait of three
mothers. The first is moved by survival. The second by revenge. The third by
remorse. Anna (Linda Cardellini), a caseworker for social services, rescues two
boys from their home. They were locked up by their mother Patricia (Patricia
Velasquez) who claims she is protecting her children from the evil spirit La
Llorona. At the orphanage, the two boys are found dead, and Patricia blames
Anna. Vindictive, Patricia summons La Llorona to go after Anna’s children Chris
and Sam (Roman Christou, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen). Anna seeks the help of Father
Perez (Tony Amendola). The priest tells her the tale of La Llorona (Marisol
Ramirez), the weeping woman in Mexican folklore who killed her children in a
fit of jealousy to spite her husband. Her guilt has transformed her into a
malevolent wraith claiming the lives of children. Only one person can help Anna
and her children: Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz), a curandero, a faith healer.
Part of the Conjuring universe of horror
films, La Llorona sketches a similar eeriness of dark interiors, a
slithering presence, then a swoop. For the most part, silence escalates
suspense. But compared with other Conjuring movies, this one does not haunt
you. There is no gore, no graphic depiction of torment. There is even an
attempt to inject humor with Rafael’s “ta-da” as he performs some shamanic
rituals. Cardellini as Anna is engaging, her son (Roman Christou) is
natural—but no one in the cast succeeds in drawing us into the horror. We don’t
feel we’re in the 70s even with Anna’s flared pants; we don’t see the shift to
the 1600s when La Llorona killed her children. For a horror movie to horrify,
it needs to catch you off-guard, it needs to inch its way from the known to the
unknown. La Llorona is static; the plot
is all too familiar.
Although benign in its genre, this horror film may
confuse young audiences. How do you explain La Llorona’s motivation to kill her
children whom she loves the most when it is her husband she wants to hurt? It’s
a twisted narrative that requires parental guidance, more so because it’s the
image of a mother, the protector, that is demolished here. Deranged Patricia,
another mother, makes the plot more disturbing for children when she “prays” to
La Llorona for the wraith to kill Chris and Sam. Anna of course redeems the
message: strong and loving, she risks her life for her children. There is one other
value we find in the story, but it is nested in the controversial issue of the
use of shamanic rituals. It is the constant affirmation of the Divine, faith,
and God’s power to save us from evil. The curandero
is a former priest. He says to Anna: I may have left the church but my faith in
God remains.—MOE
