Case 39

Case 39 (2009) The clever plot isn't quite clever enough to keep you going through the whole movie, but almost. And both Renee Zellwegger as the passionate and trapped social worker and Jodelle Ferland as the adorable but mysterious child are quite amazing. Both are actors at the best of their powers, Zellwegger limited only by the role and the writing, which is very good but not quite flexible enough to let her show as many of those perplexed and touching nuances she is so good at (seen equally in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Nurse Betty"). But it's possible Ferland has the role of her life here. She's not only playing a precocious child, but is clearly a precocious young actress, bright, expressive, surprising, and not merely cute. By the way she was fifteen when it was filmed, even though she looks and acts, in most ways, like she's ten. You can't ignore the plot, of course, since this is a plot driven movie saved by two great actresses, not the other way around. And the story is a little bit of a formula with a twist. The twist is good, but it is singular. Eventually we are carried from a personal and social drama with some evil people to a supernatural drama. It's here where things get scariest, but also where things wobble slightly in terms of believability or logic, if logic has any place here. For example, once the antagonist is shown to have really limitless powers of some kind (possibly imaginary), why does this person not have the power to just kill someone out and out? There is dangled the idea that this bad force depends on fear to proceed, but this isn't developed clearly, or maybe you have to see it twice to get. On the other hand, if you just go with the flow, it's really increasingly scary. There are some scenes, like the woman in the hospital room that turns into a kind of large oven, that are chilling and really well done. Certainly Zellwegger's character is able to find the outlines of logic as she tries to survive by outsmarting the situation, and we're on her side. Eventually it comes to a dramatic climax, and it's pretty exciting. A sleeper, for sure.

The dedicated social assistant of child service Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) has a huge backlog of cases of abused children to take care. However, her chief Wayne (Adrian Lester) delivers two more cases for her and Emily heads to interview the family of Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland), the young abused daughter of Edward Sullivan (Callum Keith Rennie) and Margaret Sullivan (Kerry O'Malley). Emily finds the parents very weird persons and forces Wayne to summon them for additional interviews. Emily connects to the sweet Lilith and during the night, she feels that the girl would be in danger and together with Detective Barron (Ian McShane), they invade the Sullivan's house and find the couple trying to burn Lilith inside the oven. Lilith is sent to a child care and she asks Emily to adopt her. Emily requests to take care of Lilith and the girl moves to her house. Sooner Emily learns that Lilith is not as innocent as she seems to be. "Case 39" is a scary horror film with great screenplay and performances. The bleak story begins in the direction of a drama, and out of the blue shifts to a suspenseful psychological horror film as has some common aspects with "Orphan". The end is not bad with the victory of the good, but this film deserved a better and darker ending. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Caso 39" ("Case 39")

I found it somewhat difficult to rate this film in all honesty. Some elements are surprisingly good, while others are just cliché'd and melodramatic. I enjoyed it overall and would have given it an 8/9 had there not been various glaring inconsistencies that were impossible for me to ignore. I've never been one to overly obsess about plot holes or implausibilities, but at times Case 39 doesn't even bother to follow the rules that it's made for itself. Renee Zellweger plays Emily, a child protective services worker, who ultimately saves a 10 year old girl, Lilly from her abusive parents. She takes a maternal interest in Lilly but problems arise shortly after having removed the girl from her home. At this point, even if you haven't seen the trailer (I didn't), you can guess where the story is headed. This is not a problem because it works in the films favor. The tension and buildup are excellent as we wait for Renee to catch up to where we are. We know what's going to happen and so it creates an uneasiness that stays with us throughout the entirety of the film. There are some genuinely creepy moments ( I think I counted 3), and a host of other cheap "jumpy" scenes that sometimes work and sometimes don't. The movie managed to catch me off guard a couple times, and seeing as how I'm a huge horror buff, I'd say that's impressive. More times than not, I can anticipate a scare, but there were some scenes that had me on edge. The acting is adequate amongst all the principal characters, the direction choppy in places, the look of the film is beautiful. Once again I just had a problem with the factors that didn't add up. For instance, if a character is what the film says it is, then why can't it get itself out of the situation that occurs at the end of the film? By definition of what this character is, the laws that confine "normal" people shouldn't apply to it, right? Also the explanation for what "it" wants is very unclear and flimsy at best. Without a clear understanding of the motivation, without an answer to "WHY?", it left me feeling a little unstable about the whole story. All in all, it's still a great way to spend a couple hours if you can spare them. I consider it money well spent. If nothing else, you will definitely be entertained.

When Christian Alvart invited me to join "Kinowelt's" producer Boris Schoenfelder for a sneak-preview, I wasn't sure what to expect. Christians reputation as shooting star among young German directors raised high expectations and secret fears... Could he come up with something even more chilling than "Antikoerper"? After 15 minutes I was ready to climb U N D E R my seat. This is one of the most scary movies I've ever seen and by the way - a film that is a typical Alvart-borderline-case, oczillating between crime, suspense and horror. Brilliant actors, great dialogue, not to mention the shock effects... In the age of trans-generic movies Christian's work deserves to be called outstanding. If CASE 39 comes to your town, don't miss it: It's a case you will remember for a lifetime!