The Reflected Self is an English indie film that was written and directed by Kelvin Richards. It started off appearing to be a typical supernatural thriller but it isn't long before that is all turned on its head. Calling this a slow-burn would be an understatement, though does somewhat put itself together within the last few minutes of its hundred minute runtime.
After the death of their parents in a house fire, siblings Dion (Barney Jones) and Nia (Daisie Boyes) have moved into a small house out in the countryside, but it isn't long before Dion starts seeing the ghostly figure of a woman.
Elsewhere, after the death of his entire family in a house fire, Dion repeatedly falls into a comatose state where he believes his sister is still alive. His live-in therapist, Aria (Marielle Clare) is determined to use hypnotherapy to get him to see the real reality.
But are either of these two states what is really happening to the troubled man?
I did like how this started off seeming like a ghost story but then became a more subdued version of classic horror Dark Corners. The protagonist slipping between two different realities was actually handled well, with characters in both realities recognising Dion when he falls into a comatose state again. The problem for me was that this started of slow and then just never really got moving until there was any film time left to go. It was a very sentimental film, but it was also incredibly dull and dreary at times. Rather than the thriller it appeared to be, The Reflected Self was far more a drama with very light horror elements to its plot. Along the way there were a bunch of melodramatic twists that were all taken super seriously, but which were not that exciting to watch play out. One good part I would say is the ending, I did like that, even if it was too little too late.
It was hard to get a good handle on the cast when their roles kept changing throughout the story, at times Nia is Dion's sister for instance, other times she is his daughter, while the therapist slips between a person doing that role and Dion's lover. For the most part this is a film with just the three characters, with a good 90% of the film taking place in the dark and somewhat bland looking house, there wasn't much to be interested about. The drama was all perfectly fine but didn't have me caring too much about what was really going on. Acting was varied, I thought two of the side roles that appeared later seemed very odd, though that might play into the ever evolving story of what is actually real and what isn't.
One good thing the movie did well was its soundtrack, especially later on it really fitted the vibe of the movie well and added needed emotional cues to the scenes it plays out over. In general though, this was far too slow and stale for me to really get much enjoyment out of it. It felt like it dragged, and the minimal cast of characters I didn't care about sadly did little to spice things up. The Reflected Self is released on Amazon on December 10th.
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