Glasshouse – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

GLASSHOUSE – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

July 4, 2022July 7, 2022 Valerie Kalfrin Adrienne Pearce, Anja Taljaard, Emma Lungiswa de Wet, Glasshouse, Jessica Alexander, Kelsey Egan

The artifice of civilization and the fragility of memories collide in Glasshouse, an atmospheric sci-fi drama whose sluggish pacing prevents it from being truly shattering. Set after a worldwide pandemic called the Shred, which robs people who breathe the outside air of their memories, Glasshouse has a dreamy feel and old-fashioned trappings reminiscent of The Beguiled. It takes place entirely in and around a large hothouse, where Bea and her sister, Evie, take turns on guard duty in loose white gowns and makeshift gas masks fashioned from bonnets.

Festivals Reviews

GLASSHOUSE (Fantasia 2021) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 17, 2021August 21, 2021 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Adrienne Pearce, Egan and Emma Lungiswa De Wet, fantasia international film festival, Glasshouse, horror, Kelsey Egan, south africa

Kelsey Egan’s Glasshouse from South Africa is a masterclass in how small-scale fantastic allegory and its world-building potential can provide fertile ground with which to examine the stain of colonialism itself on that country’s cultural imagination. The film centers on a mother, her three daughters and her son, who have protected themselves from an airborne contagion which has ravaged society, causing a dementia-like condition in those who inhale the infected air. Although never articulating colonialism as a central thematic focus of the film, its presence is thus escapable, and Glasshouse excels in its understanding of how the mechanics of genre cinema itself allow them to strip back the specifics of history itself to get at its heart.