FilmQuest Review: ‘The Parker Sessions’ Boasts a Clearly Stellar Lead in an Unclear Tale of Trauma
The Parker Sessions is a movie with a lot going on. The black-and-white feature starts with a woman meeting with a psychologist to work through her demons (whether they are real or imagined). During their first meeting, there are fun flashbacks to the truths of the things that she is lying to the psychologist about, which is possibly the most relatable moment of the film. But the more they meet, the more it becomes apparent that something is off.
About two thirds of the way through The Parker Sessions, there’s a completely surprising turn of events that I wish the movie had started out with. I love an unreliable narrator, and Rachell Sean, who plays Parker, does give a standout performance. But I spent most of the movie just watching moments of weird things happening in her mind as she relives her anxieties and alluded traumas, until she decides to leap into action and get to the real reason she has chosen this doctor, Robert (Danny James). Again, I wish this shift had come sooner, because until then, it feels like The Parker Sessions relies on Sean to keep us engaged until the real movie begins and catches up with her.
The Parker Sessions also seems to be connecting itself to the #MeToo movement, and there are hints of this in Parker’s memories and current anxieties. It doesn’t fully commit to this idea, however, because the movie makes that shift so late in the game, and Parker is suddenly a vigilante that had a plan the whole time. I wish we could have more of this version of Parker, to help offset all the glimpses of the assumed motives for her actions might be. This is one of the ways the script does a disservice to this complex character and does not support the lead actor’s performance. The movie also spends a lot of time lost in the sauce, creating atmosphere, before actually trying to say what it seems to want to say. As it stands now, it is further away from Promising Young Woman or Violation, and closer to Hard Candy on the spectrum of how this conversation is handled and the movie flows.
For all of its problems, The Parker Sessions is an interesting film that will appeal to horror fans with arthouse and experimental tastes. I found it odd, and a little cool, that characters’ last names are never spoken or seen, and that the lengths they go to to keep them hidden are as aggressive as they are. Still, I think Sean’s performance may also trick some into thinking they like the movie more than they do. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for her.
The Parker Sessions had its regional premiere at FilmQuest 2021.
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The Parker Sessions
Summary
There is something here, but I’m not always sure what it is. Still, The Parker Sessions‘ strong lead performance made it worth the watch while trying to figure that out.
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