Freyr’s review published on Letterboxd:
It's been an experience seeing this three times this weekend to say the least, but I'm genuinely glad that I did, as it feels like a film that greatly benefits from multiple viewings. Something I believe to be true for Perkins' first two features as well (Gretel & Hansel is a little more to the point). After my first viewing, while I was very happy with the film, I wasn't quite ready to give it the perfect score I'm laying on it now. It seemed, similarly, to the point; more focused on the plot than the themes and emotions that I fell in love with during those first two films. Now, I think that was simply because of the density of subjects, and the numerous callbacks and allusions to his other films that obfuscated the heart of it all.
I rewatched each of Perkins' other films between viewings of this, which reinforced my sense that he was still exploring many of the same feelings about loss, isolation, and the blending of history and inheritance between parents and children, the influence the former has over the latter and who they aspire to be, and who they ultimately become. Understandable is an understatement considering the complicated story behind Perkins' parents, both in film, and on a personal level.
Longlegs is fascinating because it takes those feelings and themes that make it familiar as an Oz Perkins film, and expand upon them beyond the personal to the more social. Much can be said about the film's stance on America; evil and violence within families; negligence within the medical system; apathy and emptiness in the community. It takes familiar tropes, and raises bleak and uncomfortable questions about the nature of good and evil, where the line between them can be drawn, and whether such acts posited as for the greater good ever did any good at all. If we've done these evil acts for the safety of our own, then why are our own not safe?
There's a cheeky sense of humor to the film that I didn't expect in light of past films, or the marketing (which is worth writing a whole review about frankly, an absolutely incredible campaign). This was a little off putting at first, but I have grown to enjoy it as a bit of levity and for a sense of normalcy where characters might have remained offbeat. Blair Underwood is perfect for grounding things among the more heightened and uncanny performances of Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, and Alicia Witt; all of whom are stellar. Cage will receive, and of course deserves, a great deal of praise for his bizarre and unsettling performance, but Monroe and Witt bring nuance to characters that are strained and damaged in their own ways.
Visually, Perkins continues to craft highly methodical and haunting images. Wide lenses provide ample negative space for the anxious eye to travel, and often be rewarded with hidden shadows, figures, and symbols of horror. So many so that with each viewing I found new ones to point out. It sustains immense dread and unease with this tactic, but isn't afraid to put its full horror on display either, such as with the incredibly chilling opening sequence, which sends a shiver down my spine no matter how many times I see it. The creeping ambience of the score, and the similarly rich sound design offers many of its own horrific clues and suggestions as well.
I've been an avid fan of Oz Perkins for near a decade now, and it makes me very pleased to see him achieving such substantial mainstream success, critically and financially, while maintaining the style and tone that I fell in love with. I'm certain for many this is and will be considered his magnum opus (at least for now), and perhaps controversially I have to admit that isn't going to be the case for me, as I still found The Blackcoat's Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House to be emotionally affecting in a way this never quite fully reached, but that's a testament to how profoundly moving those films can be if given the chance, and not a detraction from Longlegs. This is a masterclass on dread and tension that very few other directors can compete with.
