'You Won't Be Alone' Review: That Witch Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger

Arlington TX

04 April, 2022

6:28 PM

Description

By Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report April 3, 2022 Goran Stolevski's debut feature is comparable to a folktale that's been passed down from one generation to the next, changing a bit with each storyteller who in essence becomes a contributor to the story. "You Won't Be Alone" feels inspired by Slavic mythology transforming Baba Yaga into the film's Old Maid Maria. 19th century Macedonia is the setting for the enthralling and inventive horror film that balances poetic beauty with the grotesque while validating the existence of the Boogeyman. It would have been interesting to see Stolevski take on the 500-year-old La Llorona myth that most of us in South Texas grew up hearing as a child. Imagine encountering her as an adult. Suddenly, all those stories you discounted in your youth as a ploy by your parents to get you to behave, turn out to be true. There she is standing right in front of you holding your newborn child. How frightening would that be? Welcome to "You Won't Be Alone." This is the tale of two witches derived from Stolevski's subconscious. The first, Maria (Anamaria Marinca), whose tragic story humanizes the supernatural Wolf-Eateress, is known to Macedonians as Old Maid Maria. She has become a folktale used to scare children who misbehave. For widowed villager Yoana (Kamka Tocinovski), the myth is about to become very real. Yoana discovers Maria in her dwelling cradling her newborn daughter Nevena. The disfigured witch's appearance with talon-like nails and a charred body, suggests we've stepped into a hellish Clive Barker film, but within minutes Stolevski contrasts hideous with beauty as the scenic and mountainous Macedonia countryside moves the writer-director's influence from Barker to Terrence Malick complete with voiceover narration from Sara Klimoska who plays 16-year-old Nevena, soon to become the second witch of the story. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.