After receiving a lot of pressure from her surrounding environment, a thirty-plus-year-old woman who doesn’t want to have kids enrols in a clinical trial that will allegedly make her want to.
Flawed yet suspenseful low-budget thriller that deserves your attention. The opening sequence promises a lot. It’s a good old-fashioned setup that will make you want to see how it fits in the narrative. From then on, a lot of clocks are ticking, literally and metaphorically, with the heroine racing against time both biologically and mentally.
The original concept of Clock is the polar opposite of the soul-crushing drama numerous women face around the world when they want to have kids and… they just can’t. And they suffer a pain that whoever hasn’t faced it can’t. Hence, it’s original to see a woman suffering from despising having. The procedure itself doesn’t raise many eyebrows. The slight hallucinations increase the tension but only lay out the foundation of what’s about to happen. The turning point is Ella’s point of view on the Holocaust. It’s a daring monologue that reflects on her mental state and will make you want to counter-argue her view in your head. From then on, it is the point of no return where her life descends into the darkness that resembles the descriptions of purgatory. With a nightmarish woodworm that consumes whatever is left of her tormented life. I say no more…
Diana Argon is not just a pretty face. She pours a lot of heart into her work, as she has done repeatedly in the past. Writer/director Alexis Jacknow captures Ella’s psychosynthesis perfectly. Her shots accurately depict Ella’s mental struggle and discombobulation, and the same applies to Alexandra Amick’s snappy and quirky editing, which stitches Jacknow’s shots together, creating trippy and psychedelic montages.
Arguably, the message of Clock subliminally says that if you let the world crawl under your skin, it will own you. Family, friends, neighbours, unknowns, Media, doctors… They’ll become your source of paranoia. If we don’t distinguish our happiness from the world’s misconceptions, we’ll end up living someone else’s life – or not at all.
Despite some flaws towards the end and with the overall pace and rhythm, Clock is a great watch that, as said in the beginning, deserves your attention.
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