Delayed Reaction: Cache

The Pitch: Is it possible to make dull security camera footage scary and unsettling?

A Parisian family keeps receiving recordings of where they love or where they are.

I've been scared off Michael Hanake for a while. I saw Amour when it was in theaters and heard that was one of his gentler films. I know about films like Funny Games and have waited to see them. Cache seemed to be the next easiest of his films to watch. It's also widely praised.

Cache is a movie that I like talking about more than I liked watching it. I love the idea of the movie. This family receives these recordings from cameras they didn't notice outside their house or elsewhere. They don't know why. Nothing really happens in most of the videos. It's just a power play. As they try to figure out where the tapes are coming from, they reveal more secrets to each other as clues. They're essentially playing a game of chicken with their darkest secrets. By the end, there aren't any real answers. There's just a recording with one more question. That's a really cool idea. Frankly, I'm amazed that Hollywood has tried to replicate this yet. There was The Gift, which was close. And maybe the found footage horror boom a couple years later got in the way.

I did find the movie itself a little dull. The performances were a little too still, which dulled the tension and suspense. I knew pretty early on not to expect anything interesting to happen in the tapes until the end. So, all the time spent watching the tapes felt like a waste of time. The pacing was deliberate but not interesting.

There's a difference between "knowing what you are doing" and "doing something well" that often get confused when people assess filmmakers. Let me explain. Boyhood is a logistical marvel. The fact that Richard Linklater pulled it off is what makes him a special director. While I respect the feat of completing that movie (filmed in pieces on purpose over 12 years), I think that the movie is pretty dull and narratively sloppy. It's hard to love the movie without first understanding how hard it was to make. Conversely, there are movies like Ghostbusters. From what I understand, the script and production was a mess. The final product is held together with duct tape. It's almost an accident that the movie is so good. While watching it though, all that matters is that it's entertaining. To me, Cache is more Boyhood than Ghostbusters. I respect what the movie is doing but I don't care for it.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend