TW: Gore, Gun Violence, Cults // Spoilers Below
The Invitation takes a creeping look at two simple premises: reuniting with forgotten friends and new-age spiritualism. Though one seems a bit scarier than the other, the film heightens social awkwardness to a macabre level that puts an uncomfortable look on when the social taboo of grief is put on public display. The film follows Will (Logan Marshall-Green) who goes to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife, whom no one in their circle has seen in two years. Surrounded by old friends of the once couple, her new equally spacey lover, and the trauma that haunts their former house (that she still resides in), Will doesn’t know if the new religion she has adopted during her stint in Mexico is something more sinister or if his cynicism of the present is catching up to him. Audiences find themselves snapped in and out of reality – so far into the unstable protagonist’s head that it’s hard to discern real life, memory, and fatal suspicion. In essence, it is a striking account of grief that director Karyn Kusama brings to life with her exceptional use of a singular location that is a claustrophobic, Los Angeles mansion and an almost entirely self-involved cast of characters.
Though sparser and more silent than her other work, The Invitation shows Kusama’s range with drama and horror beyond comedy and harsh action. The film is very reliant on the casual acting with quick moments of madness that confuse the viewer’s perception. Could this all be in Will’s imagination, or is it much more sinister, as suspected? Who is the pair of parents that he keeps thinking back to and the child with it? These questions and more run through your mind while the ensemble is as laid back as can be – playing games and getting drunk like teenagers at a house party. During this, grief is interspersed between the supposed “fun” and hits you in the face, as it does for Will, with flashbacks of his dead son and deceased marriage. In doing so, the film explores the overwhelming effects of being literally stuck in the place of what triggers you most. Also, it shows the battle to suppress this sadness when trying to put on a face of normality to avoid discomfort. While Will attempts to hide his grief and gets ostracized when it starts to show, his ex-wife, Eden’s (Tammy Blanchard) over embrace of pain is accepted because of her relaxed performance of it. Kusama uses reaction to exemplify what is deemed as comfortable and uncomfortable in terms of expressing our pain in society – even if it means one is more harmful than the other.
