Review of The Good Neighbor (2016) by Mike V — 03 Apr 2017
This has to be one of the best movies I have ever watched, if not the best. What it lacks in structure, it MORE than makes up for in depth of story. It leads you on constantly (i will say it is a bit uninteresting in the beginning), and everything crescendos when you realize the actual story behind this film, one which blew me away, and had me gasping as I realized it.
The movie makes us think of the old guy as some sort of maniac through indirect, but strikingly effective techniques that some may not fully understand or appreciate. The reduced window is used to show us perspectives in the only way that could work for this movie. The dark atmosphere blankets everything surrounding the neighbour, giving him a mysterious and freightening quality, and we immediately think of him as the bad guy, per our prejudgements. However the climax reveals his true personality.
After the climax (in which he shoots himself), the true story behind the neighbor is revealed.
The movie is set in stages, each stage showing a different 'haunt'. The first Haunt is the music player. It is made to play a song, which incidentally, was his wife's favourite song. He has a flashback to his wife dancing to that song, and a memory is shown. The next haunt is the door slamming constantly. The memory he brings to mind here is that of his wife saying that the door needs fixing. This pattern repeats for each haunt.
Progressively, the old man begins to believe that the person haunting him is his wife, calling for him, trying to send a message. The final event which confirms this is when he hears the bell being rung. We see a memory in which his wife (lying sick, probably close to her death) recieves a gift from him: THE BELL. He says to ring the bell if she ever needs him, and he will come. When Ethan rings the bell accidentally, the man is startled and comes into the living room, only to find the bell sitting there, out of the basement. He thinks the whole time it has been his wife calling for him, trying to send him a message from the grave that she wants him to come to her, and thats why she rang the bell. He realizes this, and fulfills his promise, by coming to her in 'afterlife'.
These two boys have evoked painful memories each time they 'haunt' him, and he begins to believe in his wife calling from the dead.
This is a loving, caring and devoted husband who was shattered by his wife's passing; devoted even beyond death.
This review of The Good Neighbor (2016) was written by Mike V on 03 Apr 2017.
The Good Neighbor has generally received mixed reviews.
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