Rosario

If you want to talk about immigrant experiences and the pressures of chasing the American dream where billionaires and homeless people exist side by side, there’s nowhere quite like New York City, and this is a very New York film. A cold New York, caught in one of those unpredictable extreme weather events which, predictably, we keep on having as life on this planet slips further and further out of our control. Back in the past, of course, it was golden and rosy, and families were close to one another and love mattered more than anything else, or so it seems in Rose’s prologue memories. She wasn’t happy. She wanted something more, but didn’t know how to articulate it, standing there in her first communion dress, torn between the new ways and the old. “Your beliefs are not my beliefs,” she remembers her grandmother telling her, and there are many ways in which that might be understood.

Now she’s a success. Played as an adult by Emeraude Toubia, she works as a stockbroker, thriving under the pressure, and inhabits a clean, monochrome world whose full length windows might occasionally inspire her to glance down at the little people beneath. It’s a fast-paced world where there is always something else competing for her attention, so when her phone starts ringing and she sees her grandmother’s number, it’s several hours before she manages to pick up. When she does, and learns that her grandmother has died, all the guilt from all the years that she’s focused on her career and failed to visit and forsaken her roots comes rushing back at her, and arguably that’s responsible for a lot of what we subsequently see, as she teeters on the brink of becoming emotionally overwhelmed.

There’s penance, of a short, and thus potential relief, in being the person who goes to her grandmother’s apartment and sits with the body until the ambulance arrives. It’s also the practical thing to do, as the aforementioned snowstorm means that her father, who lives out of town, will not be able to get there for several hours. She’s not well prepared for the fact that the body has clearly lain there for several days, and there’s rotting food in the kitchen and cockroaches and maggots, but she steels herself to deal with it. The extensive occult paraphernalia, the secret room and the discovery of her own hair and baby teeth adjacent to a spellbook and cauldron, rather less so.

A lot can happen in one night in a place like this, and most of it does. Fans of dark magic, hauntings and gore will find plenty to entertain them. The production design is first class and the effects, whilst not particularly innovative, serve their purpose well. The atmosphere created by the blizzard outside is particularly well realised. Aspects of the writing are rather weaker, however. Rose flits between knowing nothing and having the confidence to take on complicated rituals with unconvincing ease – and back again, depending on what’s convenient for the larger plot. She also, despite the freezing weather and apparently broken heating system, spends all her time in the flat with her coat off.

The only explanation for Rose’s determination to take on ancient evil whilst wearing skintight clothing is that the director hoped that Toubia’s impressive figure would distract viewers from the weakness of her performance. It’s not that she struggles to hit the basic notes the film requires; it’s just that there’s very little depth to her performance, despite the rich backstory she has to work with, and she has very little screen presence. This is particularly apparent in her scenes with David Dastmalchian, who plays neighbour Joe, an apparently ordinary man who just wants to recover a kitchen appliance which he lent to the old woman before her death. On the one hand, Dastmalchian is perfectly cast for the character and for the contribution that his other recent work will make to viewers’ nervousness. On the other, the film might have looked better overall with somebody blander in that role.

When Joe first appears, it’s easy to treat him purely as a comedy character, socially awkward and a bit embarrassing to be around. After a little while, you’ll realise that we’re seeing him entirely from Rose’s perspective, and that from his, she might seem deeply self-centred and rude – albeit forgiveable, given the shock of her bereavement. She has a habit of rushing to judgement which will prove to be a distinct disadvantage in light of the rest of what she’s dealing with. This is clearly intentional on the writer’s part, and contributes to a broader narrative about greed and the influence of wealthy white American society on people who, starting out with strong community values, have more of a choice than those born to it. Even if Rose changes her behaviour, it is implied, that destructive tendency will remain in her.

There are some familiar twists in the storyline, but so many films have been made using similar horror elements that that’s difficult to avoid. Rosario uses them well enough to create some mystery, and paces them so as to deprive viewers of the chance to get too comfortable. There’s a certain playfulness to this – director Felipe Vargas is aware of what his audience will expect – but there are also some properly scary moments. While not among the year’s best horror films, Rosario is handsomely crafted and, for the most part, a satisfying watch.

Reviewed on: 29 Apr 2025