CB - Movies successfully built on mood are an astonishing high-wire act, requiring not just a remarkable consistency in every scene, but for the audience to immerse themselves in that mood as well. Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene, his first film, accomplishes this so well that it's easy to overlook its more underdeveloped areas, which emerge as the film sinks deeper into a story with no intention of resolving in a conventional way. But even in a film that isn't quite as full as it needs to be, Durkin and especially his star Elizabeth Olsen make an indelible impression, plunging the audience into a world of their creation that's as well-crafted as it is impossible to forget.
