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The Brøken (2008) More at IMDbPro »
8 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
The Broken is a fantastic existential horror film for fans of Hitchcock, Kubrick, and Lynch not for slasher gore hounds, 20 January 2008
Author: willden21 from Utah
Imagine if Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Lynch all worked together to make an existential and truly scary film mixing elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and sixth sense made mostly for adults, where the plot is a pure ruse or mcguffin to examine the dark side of humanity.
This film wowed me, this is not your average EXCITING FAST PACED new age horror film, this is a classic horror film that uses atmosphere and theme to frighten us not just superficially but to our own personal core. The use of haunting and beautiful imagery and sound design with a quietly creepy slow boiling pace equates to one of the most truly scary films I have seen in years. This is for fans of The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, Psycho, The seventies Invasion of The Body Snatchers, and Edgar Allen Poe. In fact, I saw the screening on Poe's Birthday, which the director announced, made our screening so special. In fact, it opens up with a brilliant quote by Edgar Allen Poe, which explains the theme and ideology behind the film completely.
The plot follows a woman who sees a mirror image of her self, driving her car, which leads to her following the woman to her apartment then a car accident. This leads her on a mentally challenging feat to retrace her memory and piece together what happened during and before the wreck. Her boyfriend no longer seems like her boyfriend, she has frightening nightmares that include some deeply disturbing and creepy imagery that chilled me to the bone. The violence is minimal; the couple of scenes that are bloody are disturbing as hell, including a great kill scene with a wink to Psycho.
So, before you go to this film realize you need to open your mind up, be ready to think, and feel in order to be terrorized by this film. This is not a simple man's horror film. You need to be patient and allow yourself to be wrapped into the films pace, I will warn you again, this is not a FAST PACED horror film, and that is what makes it so wonderful, Ellis uses his camera to paint beautiful yet quiet and haunting images to creep under your skin and fill your nightmares.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Intense in-between all worlds kind of movie, 19 August 2008
Author: cnconrad from Germany
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
I liked this film. A woman and her family are suddenly faced with them splitting into different persons, through breaking mirrors, lead by a very good Lena Heady.
What i liked, is the open-ness to multiple interpretations. The scariness through atmosphere more than plot. The connection to everyday life, the open questions. It reminded me of the Kyoshi Kurosawa films like "Cure" and "Seance" The style was very polished, the music was exquisitely used, perhaps just a tiny bit to much. Sound was done very fine, nice sounds and mixing really.
All the tiny details that can make our lives disturbing if we get deranged were portrayed excellently.
One scene I didn't like was the subway scene, when Lena Headey is almost hit by the train. I did not need it.
Strange film. You will not like it if you want to understand it it. You might like when you just experience it.
6 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
The Børing Bødy Snøtchers, 3 April 2008
Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
If the myth regarding broken mirrors would be accurate, everybody involved in this production would now face approximately 170 years of bad luck, because there are a lot of mirrors falling to little pieces here. If only the script was as shattering as the glass, then "The Broken" would have been a brilliant film. Now it's sadly just an overlong, derivative and dull movie with only just a handful of remarkable ideas and memorable sequences. Sean Ellis made a very stylish and elegantly photographed movie, but the story is lackluster and the total absence of logic and explanation is really frustrating. I got into a discussion with a friend regarding the basic concept and "meaning" of the film. He thinks Ellis found inspiration in an old legend claiming that spotting your doppelganger is a foreboding of how you're going to die. Interesting theory, but I'm not familiar with this legend and couldn't find anything on the Internet about this, neither. Personally, I just think "The Broken" is yet another umpteenth variation on the theme of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but without the alien interference. "The Broken" centers on the American McVey family living in London, and particularly Gina. When a mirror spontaneously breaks during a birthday celebration, this triggers a whole series of mysterious and seemingly supernatural events. Gina spots herself driving by in a car and follows her mirror image to an apartment building. Whilst driving home in a state of mental confusion, she causes a terrible car accident and ends up in the hospital. When dismissed, Gina feels like her whole surrounding is changing. She doesn't recognize her own boyfriend anymore and uncanny fragments of the accident keep flashing before her eyes. Does she suffer from mental traumas invoked by the accident or is there really a supernatural conspiracy happening all around her? Writer/director Sean Ellis definitely invokes feelings of curiosity and suspense in his script, but unfortunately he fails to properly elaborate them. "The Broken" is a truly atmospheric and stylish effort, but only after just half an hour of film, you come to the painful conclusion it shall just remain a beautiful but empty package. There's a frustratingly high amount of "fake" suspense in this film. This means building up tension, through ominous music and eerie camera angels, when absolutely nothing has even happened so far. By the time the actually mysteriousness kicks in, these tricks don't have any scary effect on you anymore. Some of my fellow reviewers around here compare the film and particularly Sean Ellis' style with the repertoires of David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick and even Alfred Hitchcock, but that is way, way … WAY too much honor. PS: what is up with that alternate spelling; the one with the Scandinavian "ø"
7 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Sean Ellis brings Hitchcock and Poe back to life, 14 March 2008
Author: larry-411 from United States
It was with great anticipation that I attended the World Premiere of "The Broken" at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Writer/director Sean Ellis had impressed me so much with his first feature, "Cashback," that I selected it as my #1 Top Pick from the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival (of over 30 films I saw) and as one of my Top Picks of the year. So with this, his second feature, the bar was set pretty high for me. I expected to be wowed and boy, was I. "The Broken" simply left me in awe.
The film's London setting is perfect for a story shrouded in mist and mystery. Lena Headey ("300," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") is Gina McVey, a radiologist whose life is turned inside-out when she begins to question the true identities of those around her. To them, she is losing touch with reality. But she is determined to prove them wrong. To do so, however, would be to entertain the possibility that the world is more broken than the bones on the X-rays which occupy her days. Mirrors seem to shatter at will, as does her perception of whose life she is leading.
Headey's performance is central to the film and it is hers to make or break. She accomplishes it with ease and is frighteningly brilliant. Veteran Richard Jenkins is delightfully haunting as Gina's father. But, more than just about any film I've seen since his "Cashback," it is the look, tone, and pacing of Ellis' film which makes "The Broken" a haunting, heart-pounding experience. With cinematographer Angus Hudson at the helm, "The Broken" boasts a visual style worthy of the best Hitchcock has to offer. The use of natural and single-point lighting enhances the shadowy world in which Gina finds herself. Long tracking shots and silence are a much more effective way of heightening tension than the rapid-fire dialogue and fast cuts which populate horror films, and nobody is better at it than the team of Ellis, Hudson, and editor Scott Thomas. In any good psychological thriller, the soundtrack becomes a character unto itself and Guy Farley's score does just that. "The Broken" truly runs on all cylinders and never misfires.
No film can be too Hitchcockian for my taste, and this would truly have gotten Alfred's stamp of approval. My own sensibilities were shaped by a childhood reading the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, watching "The Twilight Zone" on television and, as well as Hitchcock's work, more recent films that play with space and time like "Jacob's Ladder" and "Donnie Darko." The combination of science fiction and psychological thriller is the stuff of classic cinema and Ellis hits the mark again. I sat in wonder with my jaw open, literally, many many times during the midnight screening.
"The Broken" keeps the viewer guessing until the very end. From the first shattered mirror to the last drop of blood we join Gina on her quest for the truth and the outcome will stay with you long after the end credits roll. "The Broken" establishes Ellis as a modern master of provocative storytelling.
woman working at hospital makes her way home and sees herself drive past., 24 August 2008
Author: jaymart-2 from United Kingdom
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
I liked the initial premise to this film which is what led me to hunt it out but the problem I quickly found is that one pretty much knows what's going to happen within the first 20-30 minutes ( the doubles will come from behind the mirror and take over everybody).
There is no real twist (which is fine) , but the final reveal doesn't make a great deal of sense either (how can she be racked with uncertainty and fear for the whole film, if she's an evil id from beyond the mirror?).
Admittedly the scenes 'beyond the mirror' were chilling when they first appeared and the blonde's murder is also effectively creepy, but ultimately alas this seems to be a film in search of a story or a more engaging script, piling atmosphere upon atmosphere and over the top scary sound design for 80-90 minutes does not really cut it, in fact it gets quite dull.
0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Mediocre, 30 November 2008
Author: kosmasp
But not really bad. The main thing/problem about this movie is, that you have seen it before. And much better (most of the times). Don't get me wrong, it begins strong and even has a few shocking/shivering scenes towards the end, but most won't even bother paying attention to those scenes.
Although the actors try really hard, they can't compensate for some script/logic flaws, that almost every other horror/thriller movie like this has. You could name-check the movies ripped off (aka paying tribute to) here, but that will only as a movie knowledge game between you and your friends. Predictable, but still decent, you might have better things to do with your time ...
8 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
long long long, 20 January 2008
Author: asteroids1111 from United States
well this was my first Sundance movie in 2008 at and happened to see it at the midnight showing. The film had some decent acting but was drawn out. The music keeps you watching and waiting and waiting and finally near the middle end of the movie you start to piece it together. The film has a few scary parts but was a real let down. After leaving the movie I still am trying to figure it out. The movie comes across confusing and doesn't start to get going until the near end. Reminded me another version of invasion of the body snatchers. I thought the music and effects were well placed in the movie. It could have been the late showing of the movie but was not satisfied with overall.
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