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Cinequest: Awful Normal Review

I saw Awful Normal last Saturday and have been meaning to review it for a while, but had a tough time figuring out what to say. But the last showing of it at Cinequest is this evening (March 12th, 5PM at the SJSU Morris Dailey Auditorium), so I can’t procrastinate any more.

Update 5/12/04 Awful Normal will be showing in a couple of upcoming film festivals. It’ll be playing at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival on Sunday, May 16th, 2004 at 5:15 PM in the Women’s Building 3543, 18th Street. It’s also playing at the Santa Cruz Film Festival on Saturday, May 15th at 7:00 PM at the Del Mar, 1124 Pacific Ave, and on Wednesday, May 19th at 9:00 PM at the Riverfront, 155 S. River Street. If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out!

It’s a documentary about two sisters who were sexually molested as children by a close family friend. Twenty-five years after the two families decided to keep the whole thing covered up, the two sisters and their mother work on a plan to finally confront the abuser. The statute of limitations is up, so they have no intention of punishing him, just letting him know that they remember what he did, and to maybe help give themselves a sense of closure.

As you might have guessed from this subject matter, it’s a pretty heavy and emotionally powerful film. It actually starts out surprisingly light as you get to know the two sisters, Celesta and Karen, who are very likable and interesting people. Their different reactions to the incident and their abuser are pretty striking. Karen, the older sister, is much more angry at him, perhaps because she now has kids of her own. Celesta’s reaction is much more conflicted, and yet she was molested at a much younger age and in a more violating manner. And as a result, she has experienced more emotional problems as a result. But she was very close to the abuser — indeed, the families remained in close contact with him even after the abuse was revealed, pretending that everything was normal (thus, the title of the film).

The planning phase has an odd tone, as most everybody is able to talk about the abuse in an almost matter-of-fact matter (perhaps because they’ve talked about it so much, or perhaps as a defense mechanism). It also moves rather slowly, as there are several dialogues that don’t seem to go anywhere for a while. This section probably could have benefited from some tighter editing.

But when the confrontation finally happens, it goes so unlike what anybody expected, and it’s not really clear whether the abuser is being sincere or not (my impression is that he’s not). You really have to see it for yourself. There are some points where you want to shake Celesta and yell at her for being so nice, but this is just a testament to how much you end up caring for her and for what happens.

There isn’t really much more I have to say. The technical qualities are rather rough, but overall very honest and effective. And the subject material is as powerful as you can get. Truly, a courageous film, and one that you won’t soon forget.

Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10 cute smiley fishies.

The official website is here, and Ealasaid’s review is here — she thought it was an “amazing film.”