The Invitation is an American Mystery Thriller released in 2015, directed by Karyn Kusama. A man is invited to a dinner party by his ex-wife in a house full of painful memories.
Hello, there! I’m dos Santos, and this is Ulven Reviews, with Movies and series from all over the world and all eras. Today’s review is of the 2015 movie The Invitation.
Will (played by Logan Marshall-Green) is taking his girlfriend, Kira (played by Emayatzy Corinealdi), to a dinner party in the house of his ex-wife Eden (played by Tammy Blanchard). She also moved on with her life and is married to David (played by Michiel Huisman).
Getting to the house where he used to live, Will encounters friends he hasn’t seen for a quite some time. And while exploring the house, he relives many memories of his marriage with Eden and the death of their son, Ty (played by Aiden Lovekamp).
Some new friends of David and Eden are also attending the party, like Pruitt (played by John Carroll Lynch). They met in some kind of a spiritual group to deal with grief.
The oddness of Pruitt and other strange occurrences in the house make Will increasingly more alert and suspicious, raising the tensions in the party. The guests don’t know if there’s something really up, or if Will is just suffering from his own grief.
The Invitation has an outstanding plot that keeps the mystery alive for most of its duration and constantly baits the audience to achieve it. In addition to the mystery, all the other elements of the story (the drama, for example) are compelling.
It’s a very story-driven movie. It has a slight resemblance to a film I might have mentioned in the channel before, The Man from Earth from 2007. Both heavily rely on the dialogues and narratives.
Part of the movie is a reunion of old friends, with conversations and banter. In other instances, there are disturbing things and uncomfortable situations. But, it’s a thriller, and you can expect tensions raising by the minute and a lot of suspicion and accusations. Does this tension pays off?! I won’t say.
The characters are alright. They fulfill their roles for the plot, but there’s nothing too special about them. I could definitely feel empathy towards Will, which is fundamental for us to keep emotionally investing in the film.
I could say almost the same about the acting, but I think it’s a little better than the characters. There are some very solid performances from John Carroll Lynch (who’s probably the most known name of the movie) and Logan Marshall-Green. But my favorite one was Tammy Blanchard.
The cinematography is exceptional. The lighting is my favorite thing about it, but everything else is also excellent, for example, the warm colors, superb framing and subtle camera movements that were perfect in enhancing the mood of the movie.
However, the cinematography is not the only thing that makes the movie look awesome, there’s also the production design. Set in a gorgeous home, that actually looked believable and inhabited. Many of the several rooms of the house were actually used in the film, which made it even better.
The score of the film is really on point as well. Just like the camera movements, I described earlier, the music of the movie is subtle and absolutely perfect for such a mystery thriller.
In general, I really liked The Invitation. It was because of it that Karyn Kusama’s segment in The XX left me disappointed, I had a big expectations. Anyway, I already watched it twice, and highly recommend it.
The Invitation is a simple yet great movie, full of qualities, in a genre and style I love. It’s a remarkable film for me, and that’s why I’ll give The Invitation 8 Moons.
See you in the next review!
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