Spiraling into Isolation in "Incendiary"

(image credit)

I love Michelle Williams.  I saw her in `Shutter Island, `Blue Valentine and of course `Brokeback Mountain.  But it wasn't until `Deception and `Incendiary that I fell in love with her face and began to relish her acting.

In `Incendiary, she had to sidle from motherly and homely, to flirtatious and sexual, to obsessed and grieving.  I enjoyed how the film captured the psychology of her character so movingly, that we are caught up in it and swept along with it, while offering it a tangible and relevant context: that is, terrorism in the United Kingdom.  

Williams is a devoted mother but neglected wife.  She weaves herself into a highly erotic, albeit short-lived, love affair.  But losing her son in a terrorist attack gradually spirals her into isolation, and fantasy, and self-neglect.  

`The Box is another compelling film that had so much potential for exploring the philosophy of choice and consequence.  But unfortunately it degenerated into supernatural scenes that at best diluted and at worst cheapened its moral power.  By contrast, `Incendiary avoids that sort of degeneration, and keeps the drama taut and the pain real.