“No one in the universe loves their kid more than I do,” exclaims Diane (Sarah Paulson) to her special-needs daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen). Frankly, Joan Crawford starts looking like “Mother of the Year” after this smart, incredibly tense thriller by Aneesh Shaganty kicks into gear.
Aneesh Chaganty’s previous film was Searching, starring John Cho as a desperate father trolling his missing teen daughter’s computer for clues to her disappearance. It was incredibly inventive and just kept surprising.
This film begins with the rocky birth of Chloe and the litany of ailments and diseases that her mother has had to deal with daily. They live in a remote area, where mom has her own formidable garden and Chloe has turned into a lovely, smart young woman, waiting to hear from the many colleges she has applied to. But suddenly Chloe finds disturbing evidence that her mother may be lying to her and further isolating her from the world. Kiera Allen, who is actually wheelchair-bound, is terrific as Chloe desperately tries to escape her mother’s frightening, prison-like grasp. (There is perverse irony with the film’s title, considering our heroine-in-distress cannot).
Sarah Paulson is always the best- she can shift from sweetness and light to terrifying menace at the flip of a coin. Director Chaganty keeps this rocketing along with style and suspense, and the ending is sardonically sublime.
A Hulu original film, debuting November 20th.