YOU WON’T BE ALONE – Interview with writer/director GORAN STOLEVSKI and Mini Movie Review

In 19th-century Macedonia, Maria (Anamaria Marinca), a 200-year-old witch, aka “The Wolf-Eateress”, abducts a young girl to be her companion. The way it works Maria gets a single “witch’s spit.” meaning she can pass her shape-shifting gift — or curse, depending how you see it — to just one person. That person being 16-year-old Nevena (Sara Klimoska) who Maria marked as a baby with being mute. After that marking, Nevena’s mother takes her daughter to a deep cave and leaves her there, coming to provide food and for short visits. It’s unclear whether the mother feels she can hide Nevena forever or is she trying to prepare her for the harsh life in store when the Wolf-Eatress comes back to claim her. Fortunately for Nevena her companionship to Maria is short lived. Maria sees Nevena as too playful, easily distracted and kinda idiotic, so she abandons her to wander the forests and fields without guidance.

The first human Navena discovers is Bosilka (Noomie Rapace) a peasant woman protecting her child. Navena unintentionally kills her and having learned enough from Maria, performs the sickening method in which to transform into the dead woman and takes on her life. There’s a scene where Nevena as Bosilka tries to mimic the laughter of the village women; it’s very arresting and creepy because she doesn’t understand laughter, where it comes from what these women are feeling. Same with sadness, her inner thoughts reveal she can’t produce the “eye water”. Which is not frustrating to her, but rather just an observation. And so it goes for one reason or another she abandons one body and then takes on another. Each body gives Nevena a new window into the human experience.

Originally I had You Won’t be Alone on my Sundance 2022 queue, but I missed my window. Then the opportunity to interview the writer/director Goran Stolevski, came up giving me the chance to view the film before its theatrical release April 1st. To say it’s horror would be misleading. I’d describe it as poetic, supernatural folklore. Artistically, the tone is that of “The Green Knight” and “Lamb.” Where the magical aspects are truly and cleverly woven into the fabric of reality and the mundane. It also takes advantage of that very slow, indolent pace that is disagreeable to me; but I’ve been trying to have more patience with this type of storytelling because in the end you are typically rewarded. Ultimately Stolevski’s directorial debut, delivers an evocative tale exploring identity and gender and the often insecure life of women in a society ruled by men.
T&T LAMB rating 4 outta 5