Movie review for “Look Away”, A Dark Mirror

Even if changing lives was meant to make things easier, Maria’s world became more and more complicated by the time 2018’s Look Away ended.

The Netflix horror film centres on India Eisley’s character, Maria, a 17-year-old whose quiet personality leads to bullying at school and misunderstandings at home.

Maria finally has someone to trust when she learns that the person she sees in the mirror is not merely a reflection but an independent version of herself known as Airam.

Maria and Airam decide to trade places as the agony of her existence gets too much for her to handle, but this move only makes things worse for Maria because Airam starts to act like a bad person.

By the end of Look Away, Maria had rapidly realized that trading places with Airam were less beneficial than anticipated.

Even though Airam presents herself as a more confident version of Maria in the real world, she soon reveals herself to be more evil than she previously appeared to be.

In the horror film Look Away, Maria thought switching lives with her mirror would be a good idea, but it just causes additional problems and takes a nasty turn.

Movie plot

Seventeen-year-old Maria Brennan is a shy high school student who gets bullied by her classmate Mark and avoided by her peers.

She has a secret infatuation with Sean, Lily’s boyfriend, and Lily is her only friend. Lily disagrees. At home, Maria represses her feelings towards her parents:

Her mother, Amy, experiences melancholy and nightmares, while her estranged father, Dan, is a philandering plastic surgeon and an intense perfectionist.

Maria unintentionally stumbles upon a twin sonogram. Maria is startled when she sees her reflection in the bathroom moving independently. When she tries to bring it up with her parents the next morning, they dismiss her.

Maria’s mirror starts talking to her after having a dream about her birth. She calls herself Airam and tells Maria she can get over her melancholy.

Airam exudes confidence, assertiveness, and charisma. When Maria asks, “Who is she?” Airam replies, “She’s been here forever.”

Dan offers her a gift early for her birthday; however, when she comes to his office the next day, he informs her that he will perform cosmetic surgery to correct her “flaws.” After being crushed, she finds comfort in Airam’s company and encouragement to face her emotions. Amy feels there’s a problem with Maria, but Dan keeps putting her down.

For the forthcoming on-ice winter prom, Lily takes her for a skating lesson. However, after Maria trips and falls, Lily taunts her before leaving her out on the ice.

During last, Mark physically abuses and humiliates Maria during the prom. Maria, devastated by what has happened, heads to the restroom to look for Airam. They can exchange places since their lips and palms meet. Amy dreams that she is giving birth.

Airam is more self-assured than Maria in school; he even challenges Mark. To make Amy accept Dan’s extramarital affairs and their flimsy marriage, she sets Amy up with her husband’s mistress.

Maria is horrified by Airam’s actions as she stares at herself in the mirror. Still, Airam assures her that she is truthful and everyone must take responsibility for their sins.

Mark is lured to the shower by Airam, who then smashes his knee. Following his covert solo figure skating practice, Airam receives another lesson from Lily, who fears his demeanour.

Lily’s head is severely crushed when she falls onto the pavement when Airam is chasing her across the ice. Maria cries out to switch in the bathroom that night, but Airam reminds her that she wants Lily gone.

When Maria asks again, “Who are you?” Airam says, “You know me.” After that, Airam seduces Sean, and they start dating passionately. Airam starts leading a wilder life, abusing alcohol, smoking marijuana, and skipping school.

While staying at a hotel with Maria, Sean receives a call informing him that the police would like to talk with him. When Airam declines to go, Sean grows dubious.

As he picks up his jacket to go, Airam kills him by striking him over the head with a vodka bottle out of panic and instinct. She is so distraught that she sits in front of the bathroom mirror and sobs with Maria.

Amy dreams about giving birth once more. It is revealed that Maria had a twin sister who, despite Amy’s pleadings, was killed by Dan shortly after the twins were born because of what were thought to be physical defects.

After hours, Airam pretends to be very drunk when he approaches Dan at the clinic after leaving the motel. She demands to know if he would still love her if she had a deformity after stripping naked.

When he eventually responds, “Yes,” obviously bothered by the inquiry, she slashes his throat with a knife. She sobs and pleads, “Why couldn’t you love me?” as he lies dying.

When Airam looks in the mirror, she no longer sees Maria. When Airam gets home, she crawls onto her mother’s bed because she is scared and alone.

A sequence of mirrored burst images shows Maria and Airam with their mother on the bed, giving the impression that they have become one.

Look Away general review

Dark hues may be standard for horror films, but this one’s lighting is so boring that it frequently ruins any potential suspense.

This is the one technical aspect of the movie that is subpar. Despite some strong attempts at creating some unsettling imagery along the way and some fine editing and cinematography, it’s always dull.

Despite the screenplay’s excellent coherence, the film’s vengeance plot could be more enjoyable. Instead, it has a lot of awkward and unpleasant scenes and excessively graphic material, such as nudity, that doesn’t further the plot.

The screenplay is merely so-so, but the underlying story is intriguing. It feels timed and is unable to evoke any fear. With a running time of one hour and forty-three minutes, the ending hardly feels like a movie has happened. The whole thing goes by quickly with little to no impact to remind you that you have just watched a movie.

The film could be better written, edited, or filmed; rather, it’s boring in every way and falls short of the obvious intention of becoming a spine-tingling horror tale.

Look Away is a regrettable miscalculation that comes across as very forgettable despite a terrific performance from the lead actor.

References

Movie plot

Look Away general review

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