Films with comedy, action, mystery, love and a connection to real life are the best kind of movies because they draw us into that world.
When I saw the trailer for “Suburbicon,” I wanted to see it because I could tell that it was story filled with all these elements. What I wasn’t expecting was a film of such brilliance and richness, that I will be hard pressed to not spoil it for the would-be viewer.
What I found so brilliant about the film was two stories were happening simultaneously. The first plot is an African American family has moved in to the predominantly white town of Suburbicon, and the residents are especially perturbed by this. They are bothered so much, that as the film progresses, the small group of townsfolk who have parked themselves in front of the family’s new home grows into to a mob.
The second story is about the Lodges, who live in the house directly behind the new family. The Lodges are robbed and during the robbery, a member of the family is killed. The mystery of why the robbers committed murder and who put them up to it becomes the focus of the film.
What I found to be so brilliant, was how the filmmakers used the escalating discontent of the people of Suburbicon — upset that a black family had moved in, as a way of accenting the growing tension in the Lodge household. During this we discover Gardner Lodge, a father, husband and business man of good character, is hiding a very dark secret. As the tensions mount over civil rights and the mob grows more violent, the same is happening within the walls of the Lodge home on a darker and more personal level.
As I see it, ‘Suburbicon’ serves as an example of how an entire community can be so blinded by the social culture they have created and are so unwilling to accept those they perceive as not fitting into the box they have created. Because of this they do not see the depravity and evil being committed under their very noses.
