The New Mutants (2020, Josh Boone) is a YA horror movie constructed in a way that unifies the collective inner conflicts of its plural protagonist by making the right aesthetic choices.
The inner conflict is the darkness caused by fear, shame, and self-destruction. And for each of the teens there is a trauma from their past that refuses to let go of them, which results in they’re being institutionalized together—providing the depressing premise which is The New Mutants. But not only am I in luck finding this gem of depression, it also has a minimalist quality going for it.
The whole movie takes place in this giant spooky building that looks like it could be a hundred years old. But other than the five subjects being treated here and their doctor, there’s no one else around except the occasional orderly. We aren’t told hardly anything about this place like where it’s located or who runs it. And the subjects don’t have to do schoolwork. All they do is spend their time in a rec room where a TV runs a never-ending marathon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Among the characters I find the most compelling are the ones whose sexuality plays some kind of role in their lives. First there’s the arrogant mimbo whose instincts for getting laid catch a hitch due to his arousal arousing his mutant power of human torching to manifest, which isn’t all that unique or original. But really, it’s the Irish teen lesbian who’s cute and sweet yet happens to have the mutant power of being a dog—keen sense of smell, fur, clawing and biting. And the dog girl’s trauma has something to do with her like being attacked by a Catholic priest, but she’s still Catholic. And, ILLYANA RASPUTIN...
The New Mutants does well in focusing on these youngsters isolated and alone in the world who are incarcerated in this oppressive institution only to be stuck with each other, not in a peer group but only to find a different form of isolation and loneliness. It’s all an effective form of representing hormones, puberty and high school.
8/27/2020 AMC Phipps Plaza 14
Atlanta, GA
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