Centigrade: A Claustrophobic Thriller That Leaves You A Bit Too Cold
Director Brendan Walsh’s feature film debut, Centigrade, is here to provide some alleviation from the summer heat in more ways than one. Based on a true story about a married couple trapped in their car during a snowstorm, Centigrade combines claustrophobia and cold-temperatures into a survivalist chamber piece whose life-or-death battle gets its sense of unnerving because it could happen to anyone.
In 2002, a young American couple, Matthew (Vincent Piazza) and Naomi (Genesis Rodriguez), travel to the arctic mountains of Norway. After pulling over during a snowstorm, they wake up trapped in their SUV, buried underneath layers of snow and Ice. As if the stakes aren't high enough, Naomi is eight months pregnant in their frozen prison. With few resources, a dwindling food supply, and nothing but time, tension, blame, and personal secrets bubble to the surface. Matthew and Naomi realize they must work together to survive in a crippling battle against the elements, hypothermia, disturbing hallucinations, and plunging temperatures reaching as low as -30C.
Single-setting films can be incredibly compelling when done right, but they’re much tougher to pull off. Because of the limited setting, they rely heavily on the story, dialogue, and characters to carry the film along, and whenever one of these areas can’t support the weight, the finished product starts to slump like a melting snowman. The sub-genre goes as far back as 1927’s The Cat and the Canary, but it was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 film Lifeboat (along with Rope, Dial M for Murder, and Rear Window) that brought the palpable tension of limited-setting features to the mainstream. Since its popularization, it’s been employed in all different manners, from 12 Angry Men’s sweaty courtroom to 127 Hours’ narrow canyon, but no matter the setting, it all boils down to how the film and its makers handle its story, dialogue, and characters.
Centigrade is the latest film in the single-setting sub-genre, and it bears some similarities to Adam Green’s 2010 film, Frozen (not to be confused with the animated musical Disney film of the same name). Both put a below-freezing slant onto their single-setting horrors, and both involve set-ups that are all the more chilling because they could actually happen. In the case of Walsh’s Centigrade, the film is literally based around a true story about a pregnant author and her husband who find themselves trapped in their car after deciding to pull over during a snowstorm. Despite the fact that it opens and closes with title cards that support its basis in reality, it’s hard to tell if the film is Fargoing us; the press packet doesn’t include any information on the events the film is centered around, and nothing can be located when attempting various Google searches. You would think that an occurrence as bone-chilling as Centigrade’s true-to-life story would be more widely known and discussed, but the particulars are nowhere to be found, which makes it difficult to discern fact from fiction.
Hitchcock once said, “To make a great film, you need three things: the script, the script, and the script." This basic truth applies to all films, but it’s especially true for films with a limited-setting, as the the script is the foundation and source of the three key pieces: story, dialogue, and character. While Centigrade takes root in a fascinating true story, it struggles to find a strong footing in its narrative execution and character development. It drops us right into the snow-covered events without much set-up (outside of a title card), which helps to get the story moving, but in taking this approach, it misses the opportunity to better define its leads, as the choice to stop during the snowstorm is the preliminary source of division between them. It also makes it hard to latch on to the couple’s location within the landscape, which makes the exterior shots of the mountainous and snow-draped Norway a bit less effective.
Another major wedge derives from the choice to stay in the car or venture out into the uncertainty of freezing temperatures for help. In between rationing food and trying to find cell service, the couple go back and forth on whether they should break the window or not. The debate to stay or go is long-winded one that ebbs through much of its 90-minute runtime, which some viewers may find frustrating, as it begins to feel less like survivor practicality and more like a character viewpoint that keeps them confined to the single location. Aside from the occasional exterior shot, the entire film plays out in an SUV, which you wouldn’t think would be all too cinematic. On the contrary, Walsh and cinematographer Seamus Tierney find ways to make the film’s unfolding visually interesting by using a lot of deep focus and camera movement. They explore the space in interesting ways that keep the audience engaged, which serves as a real life preserver to the narrative lulls.
Vincent Piazza and Genesis Rodriguez each dial in decent performances, but due to their frigid characterizations, there’s not much for audiences to grab ahold of, which may leave viewers feeling cold. As events escalate, they don’t exactly give way to the confined delirium and stir-crazy madness that you might hope for. That said, Centigrade is largely successful in showcasing the fear and trauma of finding yourself trapped, and knowing its events are based in truth, make it all the more unnerving.
Recommendation: If you love true-to-life horrors and claustrophobic chamber pieces, give Centigrade a whirl.
Rating: 2.5 dwindling candles outta 5.
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