Living Abroad, a Woman Has Eyes on Her

Maika Monroe in "Watcher"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Let’s get this out of the way: Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window” is THE voyeuristic thriller.  Doing what he did best of putting the audiences in the position of the characters, he had you see what they saw, having such filmmaking techniques provide an unsettling viewing experience that further emphasizes the cinematic notion of “watching.”  While nothing has ever topped what the Master of Suspense has done with such movies, there’ve been filmmakers who’ve done admirable jobs with this type of film.

Voyeurism is now the focus of writer-director Chloe Okuno’s feature filmmaking debut with the psychological thriller, “Watcher,” a film that’s bolstered by its terrific lead performance and accomplished use of its international setting.

When Julia (Maika Monroe) moves to Bucharest with her husband, Francis (Karl Glusman), their beautiful new apartment seems to be the start of the next chapter of their lives.  However, when Julia begins to see someone watching her from the building across the street, she fears for her safety.  After the news breaks of a local serial killer claiming another victim, Julia wonders if this might be the same person who’s been watching her.

Monroe delivers an excellent performance as a young woman who’s trying to assimilate into her new environment.  She presents the unease of having to navigate a her life in a place that’s unfamiliar, being left alone during the day and needing to figure out who’s watching her, while having others not believe her.  The fear Monroe has her character exhibit absorbs you in the danger that she faces and has you on edge.  Later on, Monroe shows a renewed strength that has Julia take the matter into her own hands and figure out what’s happening, recalling the scene in “Rear Window” where Lisa Fremont investigates Lars Thorwald’s apartment.  It’s a transition that Monroe commands and invests you in her character’s situation.

While the screenplay by Okuno pretty much plays out how you’d expect a voyeuristic thriller to unfold, she makes up for the familiarity by giving us scenes of Julia out in the unfamiliar streets of Bucharest and letting us know how out of place Julia feels.  Okuno writes these scenes to let them play out to good effect, having Julia go to different places through the city and either experiencing the terror of being followed, or doing some investigating.  The story gives us a sense of place it it takes us throughout Bucharest and lets us to go from feeling lost in the city to getting to know the streets little by little.  

Despite the story being something that you’ve seen before, Okuno’s still able to build tension in the life-threatening fish-out-of-water story.  Between the design of the apartment with its big, imposing windows that have us experience Julia’s sense of being watched, and the skillful point-of-view shots from cinematographer Benjamin Kirk Nielsen that puts us in the main character’s shoes, Okuno uses these technical aspects to present the classic voyeuristic-thriller tropes that this movie utilizes.

With Okuno’s grasp on how to keep viewers tense, “Watcher” is a window into what could be the launch for a promising filmmaker. 

Grade: B+