| Still from Don't Breath, courtesy of http://www.dontbreathe-Movie.com/site/ |
Don't Breathe with a Touch of Creepiness
The exterior of the Regal Cinema 16 megaplex in Middleburg Heights, Ohio was faded and needed renovation. Like a silver screen actress in smeared lipstick, bathrobe and tiara, years had passed since being regal. Inside were two employees, a ticket taker and concessions worker, both exceptionally friendly. The place was clean, without the usual megaplex "stickiness". I saw only a few other movie goers, so the emptiness added a surreal vibe, a plus in my opinion. This place was 100% Mangus approved.My wife and I were the only people in the 4:45 showing of Don't Breathe. We plopped down on comfortable seats on the lower level, mid-row, my wife setting her giant bag of a purse on the seat to her right. The preview trailers were running when someone else finally entered the theater, an elderly woman with a cane. Out of the entire empty theater, she shuffled down the row to sit next to my wife's purse. She never looked over.
Being Mangus, I was stoked by the weirdness, particularly since the movie is about a senior revealing himself as a fierce, formidable threat. My wife, however, did not share my enthusiasm and wanted to move. The seats were perfect, though. I was really comfortable.
A few tense moments passed when finally someone else entered the theater, another older woman who sidled over to the woman next to us, whispered something, and left, heading to the upper level. My wife was completely unnerved by this point and unswayed by my suggestions to "let it play out." Disappointed, I moved with her to the upper level. Had it been a different movie, say Florence Foster Jenkins, the creepy factor would have been lessened, I suppose. Maybe the woman felt safer next to other people ... that is, right next to other people. I will never know if she would have sat directly next to my wife had that purse not been in the seat. Too bad.
Don't Breathe: A Lesson in Balance
The weirdness with the old woman added a nice touch to set the stage for the extreme tension of Don't Breathe. A reversal on the home invasion genre, Don't Breathe is about three young thieves that break into the home of a blind old man, only to have the situation reversed as they end up fighting for their lives to get out.
Given our heroes are criminals robbing a disabled senior, the challenge, expertly handled by writers Fede Alvarez (who directed the film) and Rodo Sayagues, was to make us care for their plight. The filmmaker fully understood sympathies would logically run to the blind man (perfectly played by Stephen Lang), so the balancing act was to layer redeeming qualities on the thieves while adding an unsettling darkness to the blind man. Too much and it would become overtly manipulative, too little, and the audience becomes disengaged. This movie pulled off that balance, and the ambivalence of not always knowing who to cheer for added to the tension. After a certain point, the viewer is forced to suspend judgment on the characters. Nobody in this movie is innocent.
That's not to say the movie didn't use any obvious devices, only that they were used responsibly. Before the robbery we get a short peak into the overly dysfunctional family of Rocky (Jane Levy) who promises to take her little sister away from the abuses of her dirtbag mother and dirtbag boyfriend (who sports a swastika tattoo on the back of his hand). That scene was obviously added to provide Rocky with a more altruistic motivation beyond greed, necessary if you want the audience to feel for her while she's robbing a blind man blind. The scene, while a bit overplayed, worked, and I was thankful her backstory was not done with with exposition. This movie knew better than to attempt to build character depth with artificially contrived conversations. While the easy way to explain things, that route seldom is effective.
In fact an aspect I enjoyed most was that the basic structure of film didn't allow for much talking: our characters needed to evade the hearing of a blind man. The movie was more show than tell, and even the blind man said little. Because of that, when he does speak, it's powerful.
The movie was so well paced, well written and well directed that I was completely able to forgive the few "I'm-not-so-sure-about-that" elements that crept in once in awhile. Beautifully constructed, many scenes left me holding my breath and appreciating how difficult it is to not make any type of sounds. Don't Breathe is a solid, tense thriller that would work even if someone doesn't invade your personal space in a theater. That's just a bonus.
A Hidden Treasure: Fat Head's Brewery (Middleburg Heights, Ohio)
| Mangus with Fat Head's samples -- all GREAT! |
Inside, the pub is far from nondescript, offering a lively atmosphere of music and colors dropped into the mix of a working brewery. Bright blue skies, clouds and hops are painted on the industrial bricks, and the contrast of openness, industrial authenticity, and color generate a feeling of cozy beer-soaked cool. Visitors have a choice of sitting at four top tables, bright blue picnic tables, or an exceptionally awesome bar.
On my visit, I sampled five different kinds of beer, each incredibly awesome in their own way: a crazy delicious IPA, Rick's Inspiration IPA, which donates $1 per pint sold to ALS research; the Black Knight Swarzbier, a dark lager; the Midnight Moonlight Black IPA, a 2015 Gold Medal Winner at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival and a 2016 Bronze winner at the World Beer Cup; a Truckin' Imperial Stout; and my favorite of the bunch, a Fat Sibling Dry Hopped Farmhouse Saison, brewed in collaboration with Ohio brewery Sibling Revelry.
The staff is passionate and knowledgeable, and I must have talked beers and brewing with my waitress for at least fifteen minutes. Even the food was great (particularly the home made red potato salad). In talking with the folks at Fat Head, I learned that they've entered into an agreement with Jameson Irish Whiskey for a future release of their Truckin' Imperial Stout to be aged in their whiskey barrels. I can't wait to try that.
While they have a limited distribution of their beers outside of their Ohio and Pennsylvania, they do have a brewpub in Portland, Oregon. In general, the Portland brewpub use the same basic recipes as Ohio, but I was told a regional preference for drier IPAs has led to some adjustments.
The tap house was only a minute from the theater. Because it was Sunday and they closed at 7:30, I didn't have much time to spend there, but it didn't matter -- the time spent was quality and I couldn't have asked for anything more. This is an Ohio gem, and because the tap house is virtually hidden away at the back of a bland industrial complex, when you get there you feel a sense of discovery, like you've entered an unseen portal to a magical place.That is, a magical place full o' beer.
