Sundance 2022: A witch comes of age in elevated folk horror 'You Won't Be Alone'

YOU WON’T BE ALONE
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Director: Goran Stolevski
Screenwriter: Goran Stolevski
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, Sara Klimoska

Sundance Synopsis:In an isolated mountain village in 19th-century Macedonia, a young girl is taken from her mother and transformed into a witch by an ancient, shape-shifting spirit. Left to wander feral, the young witch beholds the natural world with curiosity and wonder. After inadvertently killing a villager and assuming her body, she continues to inhabit different people, living among the villagers for years, observing and mimicking their behavior until the ancient spirit returns, bringing them full circle.

Review: Caught somewhere between "Midsommar," "The Witch" and "The Tree of Life," "You Won't Be Alone" is a compelling coming-of-age drama dressed in a bloodied folk horror film. Nevena (initiallySara Klimoska) is a young woman who as a child was promised to a witch. Raised in isolation, Nevena is released to the custody of her witch mother as a teen. Curious and feral, Nevena proves to be a disappointment to her witch mother who abandons her. Nevena is told only that she can live among the lowly peasants but eventually they will discover what she really is and her punishment will be severe. Mistakes will be made. Lessons will be painfully learned.

In the world of the film, a witch can transform into another being simply by killing the person or animal and placing flesh of the victim, accidental or otherwise, into their chest. Throughout the film, Nevena takes many forms and is played by a series of actors including Klimoska, Noomi Rapace, Carloto Cotta, and Alice Englert. Due to her lack of experience, regardless of the skin she wears, Nevena is woefully unprepared for the most simple of human interactions. Occasionally, her inexperience leads to violence.

Writer/directorGoran Stolevskibrings a magical sense of wonder to the film that contrasts with the visceral aspects of the narrative. Nevena's fascination with even the most mundane aspects of life give these routine experiences a unique sense of beauty. It is these moments that recall the lyrical quality ofTerrence Malick's films. You'd never suspect that this is Stolevski's first feature film.

"You Won't Be Alone" has a sense of self and humanity that often goes missing in horror films. It reminds me of the exploration of Frankenstein's monster as a benevolent, misunderstood creature. Must a witch be a malevolent creature? Or, as the subtext suggests, are witches made malevolent by the figurative and literal scars that humankind gives them?