RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR

Los Angeles. Lexi has just gone to work when her husband Brad learns that several "dirty bombs" (bombs with low explosive power but laden with toxic gas) have just exploded in the city center. The center of Los Angeles is immediately considered a "red zone" and Brad, worried about his wife, gets into the car to go to her. All roads are guarded by agents with gas masks who do not allow anyone to enter or leave the radioactive zone. The authorities advise citizens to take refuge in their homes and close all doors and windows tightly, letting no one in. Brad follows the advice and barricades himself in the house, but soon after, Lexi returns, covered in radioactive ash. The woman begs her husband to let her in. What to do? In recent years, we have been witnessing a real invasion of films that address the theme of contagion, viral catastrophe, and fear of terrorist attacks. Such a trend was inevitable after September 11, which offered topics for reflection and stories to tell the film industry, greatly influencing the fanta-horror genre. But if the immediate post-9/11 was timid in addressing themes that could hurt the feelings of those who had really lived the horror, in the late post-9/11, where we are now, that modesty seems to have been dispelled and films that tell, more or less explicitly, the fears of American society (but not only) are sprouting up. In the case of "Right at your Door," we are not strictly in the field of contagion horror like "28 Days Later" or "[REC]," and we are not in horror territory, but rather in the dramatic genre. "Right at your Door" is a chamber nightmare, a small film that does not aim to scare the viewer but rather focuses on the fear that the main characters feel in a situation of realistic danger. Everything begins with a frantic and unsettling bomb alert, the mobilization of a man who has just learned the news of a catastrophe that occurred precisely in the place where his wife was moving. The agitation, the emphasis, the controlled hysteria of a worried man are depicted here in a credible, realistic way, just as the entire course of the film is realistic. The rhythm is increasing, anguishing, at times hammering, emphasized by the ever-present radio commentary, up to the situation that represents the core of the story, the idea from which the director and screenwriter Chris Gorak probably started to build the entire film. Should the instinct for survival prevail or the affection for a loved one? If at first Brad is certainly moved by altruistic love, with the passing of minutes and the worsening of the situation, it is self-love that seems to prevail, and thus begins the odyssey of two who know they are doomed and of one who feels guilty for not having the power of salvation over the next. Once the winning idea has been staged, however, we find ourselves facing a blockage, one of those prolonged narrative stasis situations from which it seems impossible to find an outlet. At this point, "Right at your Door" begins to progressively slow down the action and narrative rhythm, repeating itself, folding in on itself, and becoming at times even heavy. Fortunately, Gorak proves to have not only a winning narrative core and closes the film with an incredible ending, one of those conclusions that alone are worth watching the film. Chris Gorak is a factotum of cinema: he has held the role of art director for Terry Gilliam, the Coen brothers, David Fincher, and even Spielberg; he has been an actor, a special effects artist, and more, but with "Right at your Door" he makes his directorial and screenwriting debut. His style in this film is minimalist and realistic, both in terms of staging and narration. Everything happens inside/outside a home, and the characters involved are the bare minimum. It is difficult to imagine a disaster film without scenes of mass panic and destruction, and yet in this case, there are no screaming crowds or building fronts that crush passersby. Horror is always suggested, described by the radio speaker who seems to emulate Orson Welles of "The War of the Worlds," and just as in that famous media case, it is permissible to wonder if the danger is real or if everything could resolve as a simple case of preventive alarmism. "Right at your Door" is a film to be seen above all to enjoy a different point of view on the classic cinematic situation of catastrophe, it is an anomalous product within a genre too exploited and now in a condition of worrying homogenization.