The Dollmaker includes a technique of inventiveness that infiltrates the viewer’s sentiments. Writer Matias Caruso sets melancholy as a central response mechanism. The tone of Caruso’s film entwines human drama with a cautionary tale. Horror/Thriller and associated undertones become dismissed with ease. At its core, The Dollmaker interprets several degrees of emotional vocabulary. Mourning and solitude are the distinct languages spoken throughout the film’s ten minute running time.

Caruso’s narrative translates with seamless prominence from text to screen. The remarkable portraits by Sean Meehan, Perri Lauren, and Daniel Martin Berkey make this film memorable. These actors did not restrain themselves delivering compositions of internal conflict. Berkey is the exception, his part in this intricate scheme was nefarious yet sly. Berkey offers the typical businessman persona, sell an in-demand product and negate product defects. Can we define Berkey’s character as villainous? Perhaps not. With his customers, I felt the fracturing afflictions each character yielded to.

The abrogation and suffering from the loss of a loved one is a true-to-life monster. Most individuals are incapable of overcoming its custody as Caruso conveys in the narrative. Meehan and Lauren shine with their delivery of wounded sentiments. Audiences will relate, as I did, with the philosophical emptiness gripping the characters.

The Dollmaker delivers a compelling message surrounding the influence of love. It is rarely a Horror/Thriller expells direct raw human sentiment such as this. In the final Act, the way Meehan laments over an unfortunate fate is a tear jerker.

In terms of technical standings, the cinematography had a professional level of excellence. The opening had a unique aura. Right away the viewer will become aware this is not a typical cautionary fable. Director Alan Lougher was an ace in seizing the moment and communicating it to tape. For example, in Act I the shot where Lauren’s character rejoins her child is a clever sequence of camera work and editing. This arrangement sets the narrative on its correct path. Most films fail to address such impactful delivery within the opening sequence.

The Dollmaker is a grim tale. I will neither confess or refute reaching for a tissue during the issue unfolding on screen. This film is a class of visionary greatness that stands in the Horror, Thriller and Suspense genre. Every level of production worked in concert. Yet, it was the performances and narrative that produce a captivating and dynamic result.

The Doll Maker is a distinguishing cautionary narrative established on actual emotion.

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