‘Broken Innocence’ Review: A Disjointed Mess
Sarah McNeil (Sheri Davis) is a broken woman. She has a broken daughter, Lilly (Arianna Harris) and is married to a sleazy, abusive man named Frank (Paul T. Taylor). Who is also broken.
All set now? Good, because Broken Innocence is quite that—broken.
Now you have the obvious storyline for a highly dysfunctional family that never discusses the preemptive child sexual abuse which has plagued their home for years. You also have a toxic subject matter which falls as flat as the acting. Except for a few shining stars—the stunning Sheri Davis portrays a wounded alcoholic mother/wife, desperately seeking affection and acceptance, and the sharp organic performance of BJ Mezek as her shrink Dr. Fuller—there isn’t much additional substance to critique within this chaotic showcase of confusion.
In a seemingly middle-class suburban home, lives this family of three who apparently suffer from intense turmoil, derived predominantly from Frank who routinely comes home from a busy day to hold up in the basement while masturbating to live streaming videos of his precocious daughter. While sniffing her panties. It sounds as terrible and depraved as any representation of sexual predators masked by the subtext of a lovely wholesome family façade. And that’s where it pretty much halts.
Without asking for a visualization of graphic violence such as in Bastard Out of Carolina, the premise of Broken Innocence still fails to deliver the horrors of trauma set upon children who are victimized by parents through sexual assault. And if this taught me anything, it’s that a targeted teen such as Lilly can apparently revert my empathy elsewhere once she presents a detached and unconvincing tale of woe. Sorry Arianna Harris. I couldn’t resonate with the stunted performance of this inauthentic girl who suddenly goes on a killing spree with little to no breakdown.
Unsure of the triggering factor to cause Lilly’s abrupt rage and possessed-like behavior that overcomes her whenever being touched, it’s difficult to understand these precipitous reactions that invoke her need to kill without prejudice.
While lonely mom Sarah tries to entice her husband Frank in a romantic bubble bath, he exudes slimy ickiness with visions of his daughter in place of his wife, abruptly crushing Sarah’s desperate desire to be wanted. And with the introduction of the innocent and handsome Travis looking for a gardening job with the family, his entire being is pointless and unnecessary. He stumbles through dialogue with a seven second delay, is lost amongst the evident attraction coming from Sarah, and even succumbs to Lilly when confronted with his ultimate destiny. The entire sidebar of Travis is strange, uncomfortable and completely bizarre.
With a contentious subject such as sexual abuse on children, who would have thought that a movie depicting a vengeful teen who was vilely mistreated by those she trusted most, would be so boring. Broken Innocence misses the mark and heads into clouded territory. The family dynamics are fueled by anger and resentment; however, they are hidden by the propensity of turning this psychological thriller into an absurd semi-horror film by creating a 17-year-old murderer who is over rehearsed and underwhelming. Even the blood use is misused and peculiar. It’s so difficult to find a sense of compassion for Lilly’s plight when everything inside me is screaming “please, make this muddled story stop.”
Ultimately, Broken Innocence is a fragmented story that you just won’t want to spend time piecing together.
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