Smile (2022)
WARNING: This review contains spoilers so I would wait until after you see Smile before reading
Sitting in a crowded movie theater watching Smile, I realized that a lot of my enjoyment from the experience was coming from witnessing the crowd reaction. Lots of gasps and “oh hell no” moments followed by screams and laughter, made me value the fact that I went opening night instead of waiting for this to hit streaming. That being said, it was akin to my viewing of Barbarian in which afterwards, I kept thinking about the movies it reminded me of that I loved from the past rather than taking in what I had just watched before my eyes. I certainly am glad I made it out but I also hoped for more, especially when you see the potential contained within.
I was wondering a lot about what the film was ultimately saying about passing on trauma to others. There’s certainly validity to the idea that if we share negative energy or dark thoughts with those we encounter, they too might take on that energy, absorbing it in a way that could ruin their day. Not to mention witnessing someone’s mental deterioration and how it ultimately can affect us. These ideas are presented throughout Smile but they’re also sacrificed in the end to bring forth an eventual manifestation that I was hoping it wouldn’t succumb to. It went the explicit route rather than an ambiguous one.
My initial thought was this is going to be a movie about we’re all supposed to be happy and smiling but there’s a demon out there who keeps people smiling even in the worst of times. There are certainly a number of posts I’ve seen from women who say they encounter men that tell them to “smile,” and I was also hoping maybe that idea would be incorporated somehow. But those are just preconceived notions and what I got instead was a combination of being disappointed by the ultimate summation of events yet also invigorated by certain moments and ideas presented throughout even if they often remind you of other horror movies.
Sosie Bacon is Dr. Rose Cotter, a therapist working in an emergency trauma unit. A woman is brought in, lashed to a gurney and screaming. Rose evaluates her in a safe space where Laura can be comfortable, free. Rose listens to her recounting of a paranoid delusion involving a smiling, malevolent presence and tells Laura, as calmly as she can, that as scary as these ideas may feel, they can’t harm her. The doctor is wrong of course. And so begins a derivative and yet often striking meditation on the nature of trauma and the mental health stigma that surrounds us. There are even thoughts surrounding suicide and what it does to witnesses or survivors. Rose carries the weight of guilt that she can’t seem to shake as a result of family history surrounding mental health issues (a little bit of Take Shelter is thrown in for good measure).
Sadly, Smile decides it wants to also be a genre exercise rather than making it more subtle in ways that benefited a film like It Follows, which this is clearly inspired by. There’s also a little-seen film from 2002 called They in which the protagonist suffers from delusions and mental health issues as a result of similar childhood trauma - only if memory serves, those monsters manifest pretty early on so we know what’s up. Smile is a bit of an overlong amalgamation of other great horror films but that’s not to deny its strengths.
Sosie Bacon is terrific in this to where she will be someone whose career I will subsequently follow. She grounds every surreal encounter or unhinged state with a lot of humanity rather than opting for histrionics. It’s clear she is impressively committed to the part, and her spiraling fear at both the malignant force haunting her and her own tenuous grip on reality is easily the most engaging aspect of the film. Though not on par (and it’s unfair to compare) to what Mia Goth has given us with Pearl or Rebecca Hall in Resurrection, it comes very close to being on that level. You believe every fragile emotional outburst or feeling of dread and she never overplays it. The score certainly also adds to the proceedings and it’s incredibly well-shot (though the upside-down camera angle cribbed from Midsommar should probably be retired or at least not be used as often as it is here). I think the problems mainly stem from the story choices as well as a middling middle to where this could’ve been tightened up by 20 minutes.
SPOILERS: It is weird at times that a professional doctor wouldn’t turn to help when it is what she would tell her patients. Part of me would’ve loved this movie to end with her deciding to opt for inpatient treatment to deal with her past, but this is also a horror movie first and foremost. I do think of a movie like Resurrection and how effective it is to where it sets out to mess you up with scares and is successful. But it also manages some kind of compassion to where you grow to worry about everyone involved. Smile sort of fights with itself especially later on when we get dream fake-outs and demon horror tropes, especially once the source of this evil is revealed.
Many moments did make me, ahem, smile and cower in my seat so there’s no denying it works. And it also engaged me intellectually at times. I would’ve much preferred an ending where it is more about the fractured psychology of Rose rather than an actual entity that is taking control. Not to mention, it does seem to borrow some core concepts from other horror films I’ve mentioned, thus making you wonder if the writer/director will branch out into different territory next time to make something that’s truly his own. What this film lacks in originality it makes up for in at least introducing sound ideas about mental health all while giving the audience reasons to yell out “oh hell no” at exactly the right moment.
