Proxy - BD

Film: Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) is about to give birth to her child. But on her way home from the last doctor's visit before the due date, of all places, the young woman is brutally attacked and beaten up. When she wakes up in hospital after a serious emergency operation, she learns that her unborn child is dead. The loner, who got pregnant through a sperm donation, falls into a deep hole after this incident, from which she can no longer get out on her own. Therefore, she reluctantly decides to attend a support group. There she quickly befriends Melanie (Alexa Havins), who has lost her child herself. A close bond quickly develops between the two women, which threatens to break abruptly when Esther discovers by accident that Melanie has apparently lied to her quite brazenly. This breach of trust triggers something in Esther that leads to a momentous disaster...

Proxy is a cleverly constructed thriller that brings back memories of Alfred Hitchcock's films, and not just because of a very special stylistic device. Director Zack Parker skillfully misleads the audience in the first hour, only to take the action in a new, unexpected direction after a truly shocking sequence. But even here, all is far from what it seems. Admittedly, at times the script shows clear weaknesses as well as the acting of some of the actors. And the production is the rather manageable budget in some moments also not exactly positive to note. Nevertheless, Parker has created a disturbing and oppressive psychological thriller that gets really nasty at the end.

Whether it was really necessary to extend the story to two hours, however, may be doubted. True, the rather slow narrative pace supports the effect of the few shock moments. But some scenes could have done with some tightening up. Although Parker as well as his actors try hard to keep up the oppressive mood of the film even in such moments, they don't really succeed. And so, unfortunately, from time to time also slight boredom arises.

Nevertheless, Proxy is absolutely worth seeing on balance. Because both as a psychological thriller, as well as a drama, the film has extremely strong moments that remain in the viewer's memory for a long time and have a lasting impact. It's hard to just shrug the film off after it's over, as there's a great intensity inherent in it despite its lengths and many quiet moments. Certainly, the flick is far from being a masterpiece; the script, staging and acting simply have too obvious flaws for that. But as a gripping piece of independent cinema and captivating psycho trip, the multi-layered story works very well. Therefore, if you can get into the pacing and staging style, you'll be treated to an effective thriller-drama, for which there is a clear worth seeing in the end!

Picture + Sound: On the Blu-ray, the low budget production presents itself in appealing audiovisual realization. The picture is absolutely clean and the image sharpness is on a good level. The contrasts seem a little excessive in some scenes, but this can also be seen as a deliberately used stylistic device. The color scheme is kept atmospheric and can convince over long stretches absolutely. The sound is dominated in most scenes by the powerful mixed voices, but now and then smaller and clearer sound effects provide a good utilization of the surround channels. Good!

Extras: In addition to a general behind-the-scenes look (approx. 6:18 min.), there are seven themed Behind the Scenes clips (approx. 23:37 min.), three interviews with Alexia Rasmussen, Joe Swanberg and Alexa Havins (approx. 25:27 min.), as well as the trailer and other programming tips from the provider. Good!

Conclusion: Proxy is a cleverly constructed and oppressive thriller whose first major twist in the middle of the film, while not new, is still surprisingly executed. The final twist is wicked and consoles over some minor lengths and weaknesses in the script and supporting cast. Some of the somewhat disturbing moments remain long in the consciousness of the audience, which makes the film absolutely worth watching, especially for fans of evil psychodramas. On the Blu-ray, the production presents itself in good picture and sound quality and the bonus material offers some decent background information. It's not enough for a masterpiece, the script, actors and staging just aren't good enough for that. But you get a surprising and effective thriller here all the time and for that there is a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp