Allison (Victoria Astuto) is traveling on her own, and when she finds herself secluded far from civilization, something begins to happen to her. She’s trying to overcome the mental and emotional obstacles in her life, and she’s using an online therapy video as a means to do that. That video is working, so well in fact that Allison becomes obsessed, almost falling in love with the video and all that it does for her. She feels that she is in Trusted Hands, but these things can be deceiving.
Astuto is all alone, and while viewers constantly hear the voice of Eve Austin (Allison’s Mother) and Jamie MacDonald throughout the course of the film, she is the one tasked with bringing emotion to life in Trusted Hands. On top of that, what Writer-Director Matthew Kyle Levine asks her to do is to convey emotion without speaking, but rather through her actions. Some of the behavior present in the film is taboo, and she must find unique ways to express sentiments to viewers through the scenarios created by Levine. I think she’s brilliant, I believed her pain, and I could feel what she felt throughout the film’s entirety. Even though we don’t hear her speak, even though she’s never given the chance to tell us the direction in which Trusted Hands is headed, she’s ultimately the catalyst for all that happens throughout the film.
MacDonald has such a captivating voice. It’s sultry, warming, calming, and just about everything else that it needs to be in order to be successful in Trusted Hands. This, just like Astuto and Austin, is perfect casting–just the right call by Levine to ensure that his film finds success, and it does.
I’ve been fortunate enough to see a number of Levine’s films, and they all manage to play with the ideas of isolation and internal struggle. Trusted Hands is no different, and it continues to take viewers on a journey something akin to self-discovery. Always opposite isolation is accessibility–and Levine employs a liberal amount of that in this film as well. While the characters on screen are isolated, separate from civilization, and viewers are able to understand and appreciate that aspect of the film–what’s more impressive is that, through all of this, viewers are able to better understand themselves. Not only is the content present in Trusted Hands accessible and understandable, but it allows viewers to feel connected to anyone and everyone else watching this film or feeling similar to how Allison does. Levine is a masterful writer, and he once again finds ways to bring these sentiments to life in his film–but this time in a far more unique way than I’ve seen in his other films.
Setting can make or break a film–it can be the reason that everything is believable, or it can be the reason that the scenarios depicted on screen fail to seem realistic. Much like everything else in Trusted Hands, the house used for filming is isolated itself, and it creates the dark, harrowing tone that transcends the entirety of the film. It’s a beautiful house, and it reminds viewers that beauty exists within every dark situation–but it really sets the tone for Trusted Hands better than I think many could have hoped for.
Once again Levine creates something that reaches me emotionally, but he twists this story so much–straying from the usual flick about isolation, creating something that I’m not sure many others are capable of. He has a knack for tackling human emotion, and Trusted Hands is no exception to that. Led almost entirely by Astuto, Trusted Hands captures honest emotion, and it opens itself up to the reality that it will likely reach a great number of viewers. I appreciate what Trusted Hands has to offer, and with Levine with the reins in hand (for nearly every single aspect of the film), that’s not a surprise.
Written & Directed by Matthew Kyle Levine.
Starring Victoria Astuto, Eve Austin, & Jamie MacDonald.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
Commentaires