Greta
****
Rating: R
Run Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz
Writers: Ray Wright, Neil Jordan
Director: Neil Jordan
Writer/director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) plays his audience like a fiddle with this old-fashioned, twisty thriller with plenty of jumps, scares, and a supremely satisfying wrap-up.
Isabelle Huppert is galvanizing as a seemingly sweet “old lady” (and it’s got to be the first time anyone has ever called her that), who becomes obsessed with a young Manhattan woman (Chloe Grace Moretz).
Jordan winks at the audience right from the start: Even when the pair is still enjoying a sweet intergenerational friendship, each time Greta appears on screen — usually in shadows, or suddenly revealed — he telegraphs the menace with startling musical stings. And when we meet the private detective the girl’s father hires to find his missing daughter, well, anyone who’s seen Psycho knows exactly what’s going to happen to him.
Discerning viewers would ordinarily be annoyed by the flashing warning lights, but in Jordan’s hands they’re all part of the fun.
