The loss of innocence is a universal experience, which is what makes the concept so terrifyingly visceral. These are the moments when people learn just how dark the ‘real world’ can be, when the rosy veneer of childhood is broken and individuals realizethey’ll never be able to think in such a carefree way again.Many films try to portray this,but few do it as mind-bendingly well asMitzi Peirone’sBraidonTubi. Following a pair of criminals who retreat to the home of their old friend, the film sees this trio take part in a twisted game of ‘House’; they follow a strict set of imaginary rules that turns their youthful game into a horrific acting exercise.
The viewers are treated not only to endless psychological dreadbut also to many vibrant scenes of surrealism, with hallucinations and reality blurring together as our characters navigate a neon-tinted version of the childhood world they once knew. It’s a visually striking movie,utilizing the whimsical image of innocence to portray what so many watchers crave:a return to the childhood curiosity that the world stole away from them. Throughthese scenes and the horrorsthat surround them,Braidportrays these women’s desperate attempts to recapture that sense of wonder—and how many people they’re willing to kill to get it back.
This ‘Braid’ Will Choke the Life out of You
People who knowBraidfor its candy-colored visuals may be shocked by the film’s first act,a deliberately gloomy, grimy settingthat sees washed-up performers Petula (Imogen Waterhouse) and Tilda (Sarah Hay) partake in the latest batch of drugs they’ve been tasked to sell. Encroaching police officers cause the women to flee, with the pair wondering not only how they’ll evade the cops but also how they’ll scrounge up the money to pay their supplier—which is when Petula remembers their childhood friend, Daphne (Madeline Brewer). A nasty fall when they were children left Daphne not only barren but mentally fractured, so when her ‘friends’ suddenly return, all she wants to do is pick up where they left off. Namely, continue playing the game of ‘House’ they started as kids, one that has been twisted to terrifying lengths in their adulthood with Daphne acting as the ‘Mother’in a twisted version of the familyshe never got to have. It’s an endlessly creepy scenario filled with trippy scenes asthe girls cope with drugs and their own delusions,and it’s through this that the film showcases what its true horror is: missing the innocence of youth when your adulthood is just not enough.
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The scenes of drug use in this film are shockingly beautiful, withbright purples and pinks decorating Daphne’s home and reverting the decrepit mansioninto the palatial estate the girls once viewed it as. It’s one of the few moments when the cast is happy, as they’ve devoted their lives to lamenting the innocence Daphne’s fall robbed them of; from Petula and Tildafalling into drug-induced hallucinationsto Daphne desperately wanting to get pregnant (literally bringing childhood back into herself), it’s clear that they crave the ease of those days. It’s a melancholy sense of nostalgia that permeates the entire film,driving the women to never run from their ‘game’ despite having so many opportunities to.They’re subconsciously searching for that innocent view of life that they lost decades ago, finally recapturing it inBraid’sfinale when they fully embody their characters—but only after gruesomely tearing apart the personthreatening them with the outside world.They know that while tortuous in so many ways, playing house undisturbed is the only drug-free method of returning to the childhood they loved, mercilessly killing anyone who even threatens to take away this ‘fun.’
Adulthood Is the Real Horror of ‘Braid’
WhileBraidexcels at portraying how scary it is to lose your innocence,the film’s emphasis on surrealism sometimes bogs down the complex metaphor it’s clearly trying to tell.While its fantastical moments are always jaw-dropping to watch, they tend to complicate whatever storyline they’ve been added to, distracting viewers with often hard-to-understand symbolism and detracting from the narrative’s relatability. Despite these occasional missteps,Braidthrives on using its bizarre, dreamlike elementsto bring the sense of childhood freedom to life onscreen.To portray the technicolor vibrancyof an innocent life, one that benefits from a lack of knowledge about how complex (and deeply dark) the ‘real world’ actually is. These moments make the utter sense of loss these women—and many people in the audience—experience so much more impactful, creating a visually unforgettable metaphor of how great it felt when life was that easy(and how terrifying it is to realize you’ll never feel that way again).
