I had heard about "Borgman" as being a movie about some guy, apparently a fallen angel, who slowly destroys an affluent family from within by sheer cunning plus a few little supernatural tricks like affecting their dreams. I happen to think that's pretty damned creepy, so I watched the movie.
That's basically what happens in the movie, too, except the master "Borgman" guy (who looks like a cross between Max Von Sydow and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson) has some help from some buddies of his who are just as evil and cunning as he is.
He invites them in as gardeners after he manages to wrap the lady of the house around his finger by putting on a "poor abused tramp who hasn't had a wash" act. The thing is, though, is that I just don't buy the lady of the house coming to care about him as much as she did. I mean, she practically begs him to stay. For some reason I can believe that he can affect people's dreams, but the ease with which he gains total control of her makes it a little lame. It's like he's almost omnipotent, so there's too little conflict. Like pitting Professor X versus, I dunno, Randy Quaid.
The same goes for when one of his buddies (Pascal) transforms the house nanny from a sweet, kind of airheaded young woman into a vicious shrew who suddenly hates her boyfriend and fawningly loves Pascal. I don't know; it's like, I know they're fallen angels and all, or at least one of them is. But it's just not as interesting when they have these superhuman powers of manipulation. Dude even Jim Jones would have to take at least a few days plus a position of esteem -- not a damn gardener living in a shed -- to completely turn someone to their will.
The movie is still very well-made, I just couldn't buy these awesome powers the Borgmen had. And oh yeah, they go around murdering people in broad daylight without the police being on to them at all, which also made the movie more boring than disturbing. Like, they go to the family doctor's office and just shoot him in the head without even a silencer. I guess their Deus Ex Machina Fallen Angel powers kept the police from caring about it.
Without giving away too much, the Borgmen eventually wind up triumphant. This left me with the question, "what was the point?" Not the point the Borgmen had of recruiting new members, I got that. No, it's like, what was the point of this movie? What's it trying to say? "Here, watch these imaginary fallen angels ruin a family for two hours"? Without a real-world analog to really link these events to, it ultimately comes across as an extremely well-crafted but kinda lightweight flick.
That's basically what happens in the movie, too, except the master "Borgman" guy (who looks like a cross between Max Von Sydow and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson) has some help from some buddies of his who are just as evil and cunning as he is.
He invites them in as gardeners after he manages to wrap the lady of the house around his finger by putting on a "poor abused tramp who hasn't had a wash" act. The thing is, though, is that I just don't buy the lady of the house coming to care about him as much as she did. I mean, she practically begs him to stay. For some reason I can believe that he can affect people's dreams, but the ease with which he gains total control of her makes it a little lame. It's like he's almost omnipotent, so there's too little conflict. Like pitting Professor X versus, I dunno, Randy Quaid.
The same goes for when one of his buddies (Pascal) transforms the house nanny from a sweet, kind of airheaded young woman into a vicious shrew who suddenly hates her boyfriend and fawningly loves Pascal. I don't know; it's like, I know they're fallen angels and all, or at least one of them is. But it's just not as interesting when they have these superhuman powers of manipulation. Dude even Jim Jones would have to take at least a few days plus a position of esteem -- not a damn gardener living in a shed -- to completely turn someone to their will.
The movie is still very well-made, I just couldn't buy these awesome powers the Borgmen had. And oh yeah, they go around murdering people in broad daylight without the police being on to them at all, which also made the movie more boring than disturbing. Like, they go to the family doctor's office and just shoot him in the head without even a silencer. I guess their Deus Ex Machina Fallen Angel powers kept the police from caring about it.
Without giving away too much, the Borgmen eventually wind up triumphant. This left me with the question, "what was the point?" Not the point the Borgmen had of recruiting new members, I got that. No, it's like, what was the point of this movie? What's it trying to say? "Here, watch these imaginary fallen angels ruin a family for two hours"? Without a real-world analog to really link these events to, it ultimately comes across as an extremely well-crafted but kinda lightweight flick.