Editor’s Be aware: This evaluation was initially revealed throughout Incredible Fest 2024. IFC Movies opens “The Rule of Jenny Pen” in choose theaters Friday, March 7, with a Shudder premiere on March 28.
When beneficial a beach-read by a roommate he doesn’t need, the tutorial Decide Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) scoffs, “All these books say the identical factor.”
10 years after Julianne Moore received her Oscar for “Nonetheless Alice,” moviegoers might argue one thing related about an indie drama casting an elite actor as a dementia affected person in fast decline. These audiences would be the least ready for “The Rule of Jenny Pen” and should really feel its singular wrath stronger than most. That’s an enviable place to be in for one in every of latest reminiscence’s extra uncommon thrillers — even when its lack of narrative conference veers extra vexing in the long run.
Directed by James Ashcroft, this punishing darkish style mix acquired by Shudder forces a wedding between the psychological eldercare drama you suppose you realize and a toxically masculine “What Ever Occurred to Child Jane?” The script is co-written by the filmmaker and Eli Kent, who collectively tailored a brief story by Owen Marshall. When our flawed hero collapses at his decide’s bench (proper in the course of condemning a pedophile too!), Stefan should depart court docket to deal with the aftermath of a devastating stroke.
The growing older authorized scholar brings loads of traditional literature and his personal erudite monologues with him to assisted residing — a spot Stefan swears he received’t be for lengthy — however not even Hemingway himself could possibly be stoic in regards to the hell lurking inside Royale Pine Mews. Most of Stefan’s plight might be attributed to 1 unfathomable affected person, the slippery and unusual Dave Crealy (John Lithgow). His cloudy blue eyes peek round a nook early, however they conceal secrets and techniques that received’t be clear to Stefan till a lot later.
Boasting most of the identical geriatric terrors you’ll acknowledge from different movies (“The Entrance Room,” anybody?), the “Jenny Pen” world is nightmarish from the beginning. Brimful urine luggage, acoustic guitar sing-a-longs, and numerous chin dribbles assault the curmudgeonly Stefan upon his arrival. Being in “a house” could be unhealthy sufficient — however sharing a room with ex-rugby star Tony (George Henare) and artifacts from the type of loving household Stefan doesn’t have? That’s simply torture. (The lonely newcomer additionally witnesses an unintended dying in Act One which’s principally a crimson herring, but additionally serves as a genius shock to his system and the movie’s establishing tone.)
Regardless of appreciable property, no amount of cash can save the decide from humiliating interactions with condescending workers and the deteriorating folks they handle. Editor Gretchen Peterson makes a meal of those early scenes with some particularly sharp audio. Anxiousness builds exquisitely because the eruptive laughter of extra childlike residents collides with Stefan’s failed makes an attempt to regain management of his proper aspect in bodily remedy. Clatter. Snigger. Clatter. Snigger. Clatter. Snigger. You’ll need Stefan to select up a plastic cup nearly as a lot as he does…if solely as a result of it’ll make that looping cease.
The subject material is little question horrifying, however “The Rule of Jenny Pen” doesn’t method correct horror style standing till the arrival of its antagonist and the titular Jenny Pen. That’s the identify of the newborn doll puppet Dave wouldn’t be caught lifeless with out whereas aimlessly shuffling round frequent areas. The seemingly absent-minded senior solely sometimes makes use of his toy to speak to nurses, who’re largely charmed by the principally mute Dave and his silent doll. Nonetheless, there’s a malevolent really feel to Jenny’s presence that looms massive over the scientific group she does certainly management like a kingdom.
With vacant eyes and a colorless fabric physique, Jenny is the best object for emotional projection. In actual life, that’s why remedy dolls exist: to offer firm and luxury to their homeowners in no matter means they’ll. Utilized by Dave, nevertheless, Jenny isn’t a lot a vestige for fading reminiscence as she is a weapon for contemporary malice. With each Lithgow and Rush totally dedicated to the twisted two-hander, how Dave reveals himself as an antagonist to Stefan is half the enjoyable (assuming you’re comfy calling elder abuse “enjoyable”?) however you’ll be able to know now: The namesake prop is 100% instrumental to that profoundly perverse effort.
Psychological thrillers are overrun with ladies attempting to persuade folks they aren’t loopy. “The Rule of Jenny Pen” flips the script on that gendered dynamic by making Stefan proselytize Dave’s menacing habits like he’s Mia Farrow speaking in regards to the satan in “Rosemary’s Child.” Rush enjoys a splendidly self-contradictory efficiency that’s equal elements determined and ferocious. Summoning the bravado he as soon as dropped at “The Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, the famend theater actor sells each one in every of Stefan’s zingers. Whilst his colleges worsen and his speech slurs, the earnestly humorous dressings down proceed to spectacular and unsettling impact. The tough efficiency is well-supported with a semi-surreal type and an off-balance tempo that helps Rush convey the layered thought… however solely to a degree.
Caught in a spot with some privateness however by no means sufficient privateness, Stefan begins a covert investigation into Dave’s weird motives and previous by looking by means of the power the place they stay. The setting is constrained sufficient that “The Rule of Jenny Pen” needs to be extra exacting, however just a little an excessive amount of Lithgow makes it a cautionary instance of the “Jaws” rule working in reverse. Lithgow crushes (when doesn’t he?) and the metaphoric shark he performs is artful and merciless sufficient to wish to see the antagonist alone for a bit. Sadly, Dave’s overwritten origin story means not even the legendary actor could make up the scads of solo brooding periods this bloated effort could be higher with out.
Even doing an excessive amount of at instances, “The Rule of Jenny Pen” barely scratches the floor on the intense questions Stefan presents about legacy, justice, dying, and dying. That’s a consequence of his and Dave’s exhausting tug of warfare, which provides roommate Tony as a superfluous third participant proper once you suppose you’ve reached the climax. Operating simply 1 hour and 49 minutes, this high quality movie isn’t too lengthy, nevertheless it could possibly be good (possibly nice!) at a shorter size. A number of false endings and using time as a motif make issues worse, however in all equity that may be traced to the supply materials as a lot because the script.
What begins as an atypical use of two beloved actors will get extra messy than advanced in “The Rule of Jenny Pen.” And but, the undaunted director, Ashcroft, approaches his imaginative and prescient with palpable conviction. It’s that very same kind of boldness we’ve seen delivered all through his stars’ decade-spanning performing careers, in addition to definitive proof that the filmmaker can handle large identify expertise. Certain, Stefan and Dave get vaguely misplaced in a convoluted plot, however you received’t have the ability to miss Rush, Lithgow, or the Jenny Pen. So far as style icons go, she’s a scream queen already reigning — whether or not or not her film guidelines.
Grade: B-
“The Rule of Jenny Pen” opened Incredible Fest 2024 on September 19. IFC Movies releases it in theaters Friday, March 7, with a Shudder premiere March 28.
Need to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie evaluations and demanding ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched e-newsletter, In Evaluation by David Ehrlich, by which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Evaluations Editor rounds up the most effective evaluations, streaming picks, and presents some new musings, all solely out there to subscribers.