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REPOSESSION (2019)

Directed and written by Ming Siu Goh, Scott C. Hillyard
Starring Gerald Chew, Amy Cheng, Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Rachel Wan, Matthew Loo, Andrew Lua, Jennifer Ebron
Find out more about this film here!

A fifty-year old man named Jim (Gerald Chew) is fired from his long-time job and suffers an existential crisis where be begins hallucinating that he is being followed by a shadowy figure. As the pressure of making ends meet and his damaged pride wear on him, his life, his family, and his world begins to fall apart around him.

Well isn’t this a cheery little biscuit. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Sure to depress even the brightest of soul, REPOSSESSION lingers on a man whose life is completely falling apart and just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. REPOSSESSION has an undeniably dour and monotonous mood, but in these trying times, I don’t know who would think it fun to sit and wallow in Jim’s mid-life crisis with him for an hour and a half.

There’s no denying that this is a well-made film. The production level is high. The acting is quite good, even though I have never seen any of these actors before. Even the limited number of effects are used very well. Technically, this is a good movie through and through. You really feel for Jim’s plight. Me being a middle-aged dude, I can empathize with being not old enough to be useless in the work force, but not young enough to be a hot commodity either. The weight of responsibility is also communicated very well, though at times the drama is laid on a little thickly. No one would want to trade places with Jim the way this film is presents his plight.

As Jim’s life goes out of control, things get pretty dire. But there’s a very long trek to actually get to the horror in this horror drama. Even though the shadow man pops in and out of view from time to time, for the most part, it’s just Jim sad-sacking about from one predicament to another on his professional and personal decline. Those looking for a thrill a minute are going to have to venture elsewhere. Things don’t really pick up the pace until the hour-five or ten mark. That’s a long time to wallow with anyone. The ending is a powerful and nightmarish one, but it fails to live up to the very long wait for it.

With the world crumbling around us daily, I rely on movies to block all of that out. REPOSSESSION hit a little too close to home for me and I think it will a lot of people who are already facing multiple pressures in their life. It’s definitely not a bad movie, but it’s just bad timing for it. Maybe you’re the type who get a cathartic buzz seeing others worse off than you. If so, then REPOSSESSION should be next on your watch list.

Check out the trailer here!!