I recently caught 'The Black Gloves' by director Lawrie Brewster in full colour at a film festival. I'm not a huge horror fan, so I was leery at first, but you're quickly and wholly absorbed by this suspense-filled, atmospheric, dark and twisting feature. It reminded me of films by Hitchcock, and strangely 'Blood Simple' by the Coen brothers for it's style, cinematography and anti-hero characters. The cinematography is absolutely excellent, and particularly well-graded given that it was originally shot in black and white: the light streaming through the windows in the main room at the estate, and the disturbing and incredible swan/owl-possession extreme back-bend to stairway hunt are two images that firmly embedded themselves in my mind. It's haunting, dark, and decadent.
The two main themes I took from this feature, both of which it deals with adeptly, are: abusive relationships and obsession. I trained in ballet since I was 2 years old, and I well-understand the competitiveness, the fact that you must effectively give over your life to pursuing this career, the negative impact it can have on your body from your joints, toe-nails to eating disorders. And then the way that teachers, spectators and even family members can feel as though they 'own' you and your talent, or that you 'owe' it to them; the way that obsession with the surface, the talent, the performance can be miscontrued as love. It is the perfect breeding ground and setting for a film such as this.The script by Sarah Daly is layered, timeless and compelling.
Lorena, played by Macarena Gómez, the ballet instructor is a strict, unyielding and on-the-surface unsympathetic character whose abuses of power when it comes to 'her' dancer Elisa Grey are deeply disturbing: Lorena raised Elisa, taught her everything she could and has taken care of her since a terrible trauma apparently fractured Elisa's pysche. She seems to want Elisa to live out her own lost-dreams of greatness as a prima ballerina, and controls every aspect of Elisa's life. She also appears to have a sexual relationship with her, even though she is really her only mother & Elisa is clearly in a vulnerable, traumatised state. Gómez's intensity, her elegant, though at times terrifying, physicality and her beauty are perfect for such a complex character who actually embodies a good few of the masculine-stereotypes seen regularly in film. Alexandra Hulme's Elisa Grey is at times vulnerable, at times seemingly complicit, and at other times sensual: a real, multi-faceted woman in a terrible situation and for whom you don't see a good way out. I want to note that her ballet really is beautiful, and she clearly put as much preparation into the choreography as her character depth too; the hunt down the stair way in pointe shoes, on uneven old floor boards, is wonderfully classic & graceful yet feral and sinister at the same time. The owl God, whose appearances are terrifying, actually takes a back seat to the sinister lead characters. Even Jamie Scott Gordon's Dr Finn Galloway, who starts off appearing to want the best for, and to genuinely help Elisa. However, by the end of the film, I only felt a deep aversion to his character whose idea of 'the best for Elisa' is not actually the best for Elisa... but for his selfish wants & obsession.
In summation: it's atmospheric, it's unsettling, and it's thought-provoking. I'm certain the shot of Elisa's shadowy, owl-eyed, backbend will be firmly in my nightmares for years to come. Beautiful work.
