Aberrance (2022)

I haven't seen many films from Mongolia; I liked this one reasonably well, although it also has a rather Western feel. I don't know who wrote that plot description, by the way, but it's not entirely accurate. It's a combination of psychological thriller, mystery, and horror, about a Mongolian couple moving to a more remote location. They're also trying to find some peace, because Selenge clearly has mental health issues and is imagining all sorts of things. But the neighbor also turns out to be an unpredictable nutcase; in fact, he turns out to be a murderous lunatic. The setting in a Mongolian town in the woods is pretty cool, and the main characters' acting is also quite good. I'm not so sure about the camerawork; I found the panning along with the characters a bit distracting at times. But as a story I still found it a bit confusing, even though it is clear that there are often unreliable narrators and that the neighbor is not just a neighbor, but also partly a projection of Selenge's psychoses. It is a bit slow, but perhaps also because of the unexpected setting and the associated slight unpredictability it managed to keep me interested enough.

Translated from Dutch · View original