Page 12 - atd

a12 people & arts
Saturday 4 June 2022

A woman abroad feels an unwelcome

gaze in new film 'Watcher'

have a hard time with Fran-
cis because he frustrates
me so much now," Glusman
said. "I've made the same
sort of mistakes. It definitely
conjured up some memo-
ries from my own past re-
lationships where I tried to
de-escalate things rather
than just listen and really
take in all my partner was
This image released by IFC Films shows Maika Monroe in a going through."
scene from "Watcher." Monroe, a mainstay of the
Associated Press independent horror scene
since she broke out in "It Fol-
By LINDSEY BAHR Okuno, who rewrote the lows," actually knew about
AP Film Writer New York-based script to Okuno long before "Watch-
In the haunting and sophis- take place in Romania and er" came her way. She'd
ticated new thriller " Watch- reworked the character of seen her American Film
er, " Maika Monroe plays Julia to make her truer to Institute thesis film " Slut,"
an American woman who her own experiences as a an edgy and atmospheric
is feeling uneasy in her new woman. 20-minute horror about an
hometown of Bucharest. "I think a lot of what I was awkward teenage girl and
Her character, Julia, sees trying to do was show mo- the seemingly nice guy
a man in a high rise across ments where, as a woman, who chats her up at a roller
the street who appears we sort of have a very differ- rink, and knew she was one
to be looking at her in her ent experience in the world to watch.
apartment. At the market, than a man. And it's really "I was a massive fan of
she senses she's being fol- hard to communicate why Chloe before meeting her.
lowed. And moments after that experience can oc- I was obsessed with her
she sits down in the middle casionally be really scary," short film, way before ever
of an empty movie theater, Okuno said. "It's things that hearing about this script,"
she hears and feels the are as simple as walking Monroe said. "She has such
breath of someone directly down the street alone at a style."
behind her. night or sitting in a movie Reading the script, Monroe
But no crime has been theater when a creepy guy found she could also relate
committed. Julia has not comes and sits down next to Julia. She'd moved to the
been assaulted or threat- to you — things that aren't Dominican Republic when
ened. She's not even sure necessarily large, flashy set she was younger and knew
it's the same man. Nothing pieces." In other words, Ju- how alienating and hard it
has technically happened lia might not be able to sat- could be in a new country
at all. And yet, she feels a isfyingly explain why she's where you don't yet speak
crushing, escalating dread. on edge, but Okuno's lens the language. She was so
Like Alex Garland's recent can make us feel those inspired by the script, she
thriller " Men," "Watcher" emotions along with her. even made her own look
helps illuminate the hard- Karl Glusman was cast to book with photos and style
to-describe unease that play the part of Julia's hus- references for Julia, draw-
women can feel by sim- band, Francis, who is off ing on 1960s New Wave
ply existing in the world. working most of the day, icons like Anna Karina and
IFC acquired the film after leaving her to wander the Catherine Deneuve.
it debuted to glowing re- city alone. He tries to be "I just had this vision in my
views earlier this year at sympathetic at first, but head of what this charac-
the Sundance Film Festival, his patience wanes. Julia, ter looked like," Monroe
and it's currently playing in to him, seems increasingly said. "I was like, 'I'm just
750 theaters nationwide. hysterical and paranoid — going to see if Chloe con-
"Watcher" is also the fea- words that are often used nects with this.'"
ture debut of an exciting to dismiss the concerns of In the end, Monroe ended
new voice: Director Chloe women. "I actually kind of up having a profound im-
pact on Julia's wardrobe,
which is classic and subtly
feminine and stands out
among Bucharest's impos-
ing architecture. She even
brought some of her per-
sonal clothes to wear.
"She took something that
wasn't actually that specif-
ic and made it so specific
to her and so stylish," Okuno
said. q