Wednesday, March 16, 2022

THE VIGIL (September 2019)


THE VIGIL
(September 2019)

For thousands of years, religious Jews have practiced the ritual of “the vigil”.
When a member of the community dies, the body is watched round the clock in shifts by a Shomer, or watchman, who recites the Psalms to comfort the deceased’s soul and protect it from unseen evil.
This watchman is typically a family member or friend, but there are paid Shomers.
Hired to sit the vigil when no one else can.

And this is exactly the situation Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) finds himself in.
Struggling with the rent, finding himself “… having to choose between medication and meals,” Yakov expects a vigil like those he’s sat before.
Which, of course, is so not what happens to poor Yakov…

The Vigil is writer/director Keith Thomas’ feature debut* and it’s a tight, expertly crafted film, as cramped and oppressive as the Litvak home, in whose dim rooms and shadowed halls Yakov must face the terrible weight of his guilt.

“He was broken by memories. Hmm! Those kind of memories that you saw. They bite. They bite and the biting never stops.”

Which he’s following up with not just the Firestarter remake, but an episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities anthology as well…

(The Vigil OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

No comments:

Post a Comment