Charlie is a person everyone has met, maybe even has been at some point in time. Coming at her from all angles as the lead actor, co-writer, and co-director, Emily Bennett has the protagonist’s personality down pat. “Alone with You” is a character study/chamber drama where a troubled woman emotionally unravels while inexplicably trapped inside her Brooklyn apartment. And, well, I can’t see a more direct way to do that than by writing a bunch of “is” sentences that describe the style of experience “Alone with You” provides. Knowing “Alone with You” is a homegrown project made by a small handful of young filmmakers, it didn’t feel right to pour out eight paragraphs of negativity just to say, “I didn’t like it.” My challenge then, is to write a review that gives you enough information to gauge what you might think of the film independent of my opinion. But even though I could relate to themes of claustrophobic isolation and the danger of attaching self-identity to an unhealthy romance, I never had a drive to invest in the character, her arc, or its outcome. The psychological spiral slowly tearing that woman apart gets more conceptually interesting toward the end as frantic editing and frightening imagery amps up to mirror her mental breakdown. I recognized within the first half hour that the one woman, single location setup was progressing too patiently to spin up to my speed. That desire presents a problem with productions like “Alone with You” however. Since I wanted to be more creative with my critiques, I started consciously trying to avoid “is” statements whenever possible, specifically so summary sentences didn’t sound as stale as everyone else’s. In other words, if a critic gets hung up on using “is” too much, the review risks being simply descriptive rather than deeply analytical. What I eventually came to realize is that, beyond being reductive, “is” isn’t so much a tool for useful insight as it is an often observational declaration. When I noticed one genre website in particular doing this on nine out of every ten posts, a silent alarm went off in my head whenever “is” entered into my own reviews. While sitting atop the trunk, Charlie slashes her own throat and falls over.Ĭritics and editors have a bad habit of summarizing film reviews with headlines formed around the word “is.” How many times have you seen a tired take like, “(Horror Anthology) is a mixed bag that doesn’t bring anything new to the table.” Or, “(Action Movie) is a nonstop thrill-ride that’ll have you on the edge of your seat.” How about, “(Arthouse indie) is a tour-de-force fever dream of nightmare fuel certain to become a cult classic.” Charlie wanders outside and goes to the beach that appeared in many of her memories and visions. A doppelganger crawls out of the trunk and terrorizes Charlie.Īfter screaming at the doppelganger, Charlie finds herself in a completely empty apartment. Using a key attached to her grandmother’s necklace, Charlie opens an ominous trunk. Images of Simone bound, gagged, and bleeding haunt Charlie. The crying voice in the vent tells Charlie that Simone isn’t coming back because she doesn’t love Charlie. Charlie contacts her mother, but she too only torments Charlie. Charlie calls Thea for help escaping the apartment, but Thea only repeats the phrase, “You’re not here.” The voice in the vent taunts Charlie with the same phrase. Various visions and flashbacks continue causing a mental and emotional breakdown. While looking for the phone, Charlie finds her grandmother’s cross necklace. Thea points Charlie to a current social media post showing Simone out on the town with a man.Ĭharlie calls Simone’s phone and hears it ringing downstairs. Thea calls Charlie to tell her Simone isn’t coming back. The woman’s sobs turn into cackles as she annoyingly mimics everything Charlie says. Charlie sees a fleeting presence throughout the apartment while experiencing random visions and flashbacks to relationship troubles with Simone.Ĭharlie tries talking to a neighbor she can hear crying through a vent.
Unable to get the building superintendent on the phone, Charlie repeatedly calls 911 for help, but the disinterested operator oddly pays little attention to Charlie’s pleas. Charlie also sees nothing but darkness outside her windows. Charlie also has a contentious call with her disapproving mother, who demands that Charlie return a necklace that belonged to Charlie’s dead grandmother.Ĭharlie discovers she is inexplicably trapped inside her apartment when the front door won’t open. Over the phone, Charlie’s drunken friend Thea warns that Charlie’s relationship with Simone is unhealthily toxic. Despite arguments about being smothering in addition to suspicions of infidelity, Charlie Crane anxiously awaits her girlfriend Simone’s return to their Brooklyn apartment following Simone’s trip to Philadelphia.
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