John also does some digging into Anna's past and learns she killed her abusive stepfather before changing her name. Mike later confronts Anna once he's released and he wants her to extort John and Laura for more money, but she stabs him to death instead.
When he makes it clear nothing will happen between them, she grows furious. Things between the trio are pleasant at first, but Anna grows attracted to John over time, which escalates to sending him spicy videos at work. When The Bough Breaks kicks off when John and Laura deciding to use Anna as a surrogate, though she soon ends up staying with them after she's assaulted by her boyfriend Mike (Theo Rossi). Related: The Hand That Rocks That Cradle Is The Best Forgotten 1990s Thriller While the movie may have been inspired by the Blank from Hell template of yesteryear it didn't do much to evolve the formula either and plays like a lukewarm retread of Fatal Attraction.
It was also helmed by veteran TV director Jon Cassar, who is perhaps best known for his work on 24. The movie Morris Chestnut as John, Regina King as his wife Laura and Jaz Sinclair as surrogate Anna. When The Bough Breaks belongs to this tradition too and sees a couple trying to get pregnant deciding to use a surrogate, who develops an obsession with the husband.
The Invisible Man2020 is something of an update of this formula, with Elizabeth Moss' character fleeing an Ex From Hell who also happens to be able to turn invisible. In the early 1990s there was a run of so-called "Blank from Hell" movies, such as The Hands That Rock The Cradle's Nanny from Hell or Single White Female's Roommate from Hell. Lee, RogerEbert.Here's the ending for 2016 thriller When The Bough Breaks explained. "The film captures their arguments with such intimacy that you wonder if director Ji Dan had worn an invisible cloak while filming." -Kevin B. "Ji Dan's camera traces the tribulations of the family with an intensity that is unnerving.a shattering viewing experience." -Dan Edwards, Screening China "Ji Dan's film features some of the most engrossing storytelling in movies this year, and.some of the richest "characters" in recent memory." -Mubi Notebook WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS at once explores the particular dynamics of one family and exposes the widespread difficulties faced by migrants living at the margins of Chinese society. Their alcoholic father and their mother are frequently at one another's throats, and do not seem to understand the gravity of their children's situation.ĭirector Ji Dan, one of China's preeminent female filmmakers, first met Xia, Ling, and Gang in 2004, while making a film about education in China, This intimate, patient portrait grew out of their close relationship over many years. Their complicated home life doesn't make things any easier. With very little money to their name, they place all their hopes in Gang, the older brother.
Their older sister, who left school to begin working, has disappeared, likely kidnapped and sold into prostitution.Īs migrants, they are prevented by China's hukou (residence permit) system from attending a free public school, and when the school that had provided them with scholarships closes, they are forced to look for new options.
Growing up in a rickety hut on a garbage-filled lot, Xia, Ling, and Gang recognize that a good education is their only possible ticket to a better life. On the outskirts of Beijing, two teenage girls from a migrant family struggle to earn the money to pay for their brother's schooling with little help from their troubled and eccentric parents.