You Won’t Be Alone (2022)
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You Won’t Be Alone Movie Review
You Won’t Be Alone is a 2022 Macedonian horror film written and directed by Goran Stolevski in his directorial debut and starring Noomi Rapace and Anamaria Marinca. It’s an incredible movie.
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“It flows and flows,
and still it stays in the same spot“
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In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young girl is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. What starts as a folk horror tale quickly turns into a full-on period drama that is an exploration of life and humanity. In its central narrative loop of a witch inhabiting different people and animals, the film pleasantly reminded me of the anime ‘To Your Eternity’, though the execution apart from that plot similarity is vastly different.
As a viewer from the Balkans, this movie captivated me and it seemed genuinely authentic without resorting to stereotypes. Just like Serbian ‘Leptirica’, Stolevski effortlessly captured what it felt like living in these Macedonian villages two centuries ago. The movie felt very much lived-in due to amazing production design – the small houses and cottages with animals and hay looked so authentic – while the cinematographer employed an inspired mix of close-ups and shaky camera to great effect.
The main storyline of a witch terrorizing a small village was authentically Slavic in its folk elements while also being timeless and universal in its appeal. Its slow pace may hurt its potential to appeal to wider audiences that aren’t international cinema enthusiasts, but I personally never felt that slow pace as a hindrance to the story. In fact, the movie is so transportive, so captivating and so utterly enchanting that it kept my eyes transfixed to the screen throughout its whole runtime, which almost never happens to me anymore. That is how powerful a storyteller Stolevski is.
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You Won’t Be Alone’s horror trappings are just an excuse to explore deeper themes. This is one of the most human films that I’ve ever seen as a great example of a product that could be sent to extraterrestrials as an introduction to our kind. It literally felt as if it was made with such a purpose having in mind that the protagonists are witches who are unfamiliar with humans.
Biljana the protagonist just wants to love and be loved, to live fully within human society and to conform within their needs, but childless Maria desperately intends to destroy her chance at happiness due to her envy. Eventually, the filmmakers even empathize with her villainous character in an impressive feat of emotional storytelling where every emotion is understandable and oh so human.
The cast here is entirely international with the likes of Anamaria Marinca and Noomi Rapace. Those two are the standouts in such powerful roles. The film’s sparse, minimalist dialogue made it possible for these actors to deliver phenomenal performances despite the language barrier. Though the film lacked in dialogue, it compensated with fantastic sound design and an astonishing piano score that was downright gorgeous at times and timeless in its quality.
Whenever Nevena/Biljana inhabited a new body, whether it being an animal, a child or an adult, the story found new light and new storytelling possibilities. For instance, when she inhabited a male body, she learned how to enjoy sex as a man. These sequences explored gender roles beautifully while never succumbing to overt feminism as the film’s empathetic to all people regardless of gender, age or anything else.
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The lack of horror elements in the second half was somewhat troubling. The gore was overwhelming and some of those scenes were downright disgusting, but necessary for the movie’s grounded approach. The horror parts overall are strong, but the movie is much more interesting as this epic period drama about all of humanity that the horror elements threatened to become an afterthought in certain moments. Still, this mixture mostly worked, leading to such a unique piece of filmmaking that is unlike anything else being made now.
