Rabbit trap root — a short introduction to this piece.
Rabbit trap root: Quick Notes
When I see wildly divergent movie reviews I know to head straight to the theater. Such was the case with a new film, Rabbit Trap. Reading between the lines of the, mostly, bad reviews I could tell that this was probably going to be an interesting film that breaks the mold of Hollywood’s tired formulas.
Rabbit Trap is, in fact, a very good movie. As the Weird Studies podcasters point out in an episode about the film, Rabbit Trap resembles a decadent, fin du siècle Arthur Machen story come to life: the Welsh mythology, the eerie mood, and the emotional transformation of the characters.
I won’t do any spoilers here but the film owes a lot to 1970s British folk horror both visually and in terms of a slower pacing than most new movies. The film is heavy on atmosphere but also rich in character study and drama. It fulfills my main requirement of a good movie, that the actors are transformed over the course of time, different at the end than at the beginning. For those who don’t like horror I’ll note that there’s no slasher or violent content.
The cast is made up of only three characters. Rosy McEwen portrays Daphne Davenport, an experimental electronic composer and Dev Patel is her husband who collects field recordings for her music. Jade Croot is a mysterious and ambiguous child who appears appears at their isolated, rural house. The experimental music and the field recording conceit allows for a rich sonic texture in the film and a good reminder that, in my opinion, sound is just, if not more, important in a movie than image.
The conclusion of my favorite Machen story, A Fragment of Life might be the best, if oblique, way of summing up Rabbit Trap,
So I awoke from a dream of a London suburb, of daily labour, of weary, useless little things; and as my eyes were opened I saw that I was in an ancient wood, where a clear well rose into grey film and vapour beneath a misty, glimmering heat. And a form came towards me from the hidden places of the wood, and my love and I were united by the well.
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Rabbit trap root appears here to highlight key ideas for readers.
