The Deserving
Karter Sai is a man who despite his success has issues, though they would not be immediately apparent to the outside world; a handsome bachelor who lives in leafy, sunlit suburbia, working as a portrait photographer, he is mute and he is troubled, by his past, his childhood with his abusive father who treated his mother so badly, and the present, the ghosts of the women he has murdered.
Unable to leave the house, unable to call for help, his words turned back at him, taunting him as he attempts to use a text talk service to summon the police, he cannot even kill himself, the ghosts tricking him and terrorising him, determined that his suffering should be prolonged, perhaps correct that this is what he deserves after what he did to them.
The Deserving written and directed by Koka Singh Arora who also appears in flashback as the father, always berating and beating his wife in full view of their son, even forcing him to participate, Venkat Sai Gunda is the adult Karter Sai, bearing the burden of guilt and rage and struggling to communicate beyond his inability to speak with the model who has the morning session.
As someone whose work depends on the ability to interact clearly with strangers Karter might have thought ahead to write down some helpful phrases, though Hanna (Mariam Lomsadze) is equally lacking intuition, her objections to his process solved when she is stabbed through the neck with a pencil, though Lucy (Simone Stadler) can certainly talk enough for both of them and then some, barging in and demanding an hour of his time for some headshots, a tour of the house and chit-chat over coffee which she inevitably monopolises.
The visions of the dead never far from Karter’s mind, they are so persistent they feel less a dread presence haunting the house so much as ghastly moving furniture, and with all conversation one-sided it is difficult to find any depth or nuance in Karter, nor is any of his photography on display in his spacious house to offer insight into his supposed brilliance, and despite the desperate attempt of the cloying sad piano soundtrack he is certainly not deserving of the sympathy the film thinks is his right.
A Ghost Waits having approached suicide with sensitivity and Mute Witness having jumped through hoops to make a character who cannot speak participatory in their own story, The Deserving cannot claim the same, less the spirits of A Christmas Carol come to speak their wisdom than the restless dead participating in a hatchet job, a misguided looping purgatory for all concerned with jump scares on repeat but nothing interesting to say for itself.
The Deserving will be available on digital download in the US from Monday 1st October
