Watcher (2022)

My Rating: 4/5

Genre: Thriller

Rated R

If you have ever traveled to a foreign country chances are you’ve experienced a language barrier at some point. Maybe you couldn’t decipher directions to a museum or order food at a restaurant. You might have felt like a toddler learning to speak or even felt embarrassed. 

Watcher (2022) superbly leans into that language/culture barrier and creates an atmosphere of isolation. It’s the story of Julia (Makia Monroe) as she moves from America to Bucharest for her husband, Francis (Karl Gusman) who has accepted a new marketing position for his company. The couple moves into an apartment with a large window, from which Julia notices a man (Burn Gorman) watching her from a window across the street. When a serial killer strikes, Julia is convinced it’s the watcher and becomes consumed with identifying him. A psychological thriller ensues. 

According to Chloe Okuno, the director of the film, Watcher was initially going to be set in New York City but the change of location to Bucharest brings a completely new and inescapable feeling of otherness that NYC would not have been able to provide. The very first shot of the film takes place in a taxi and the driver is speaking Romanian. There are no subtitles! I had to double check that a setting wasn’t misclicked. Nope. The characters around Julia speak Romanian and she doesn’t understand. She relies on Francis to translate, trusting that he’s not filtering. The lack of subtitles means that we the viewers are in the same boat as Julia. Like the outside of a window, we are simply looking in, not permitted to feel comfortable in this uncertain land. 

Bucharest as a backdrop provides gloomy shots of dated architecture and people wearing muted clothes. The city is full of slanted alleys that collect rain and streets dotted with compact cars. Definitely, not America. Julia stands out in her bright reds and yellows, a stark contrast to the drab blueish gray of the city around her. This can often be what it feels like as an American abroad. You stand out, just by being. I mean, just ask my dad who wears a baseball cap and cargo shorts no matter what country he’s in. 

Surprisingly, this is writer/director Chloe Okuno’s directorial feature film debut, although she is no stranger to the horror genre. She has co directed projects like V/H/S/94’s Episode: “Storm Drain” and directed a short film titled SLUT, both projects that are helmed by female protagonists. In Watcher, close attention is paid to the experience not just of a foreigner but a woman having an unfortunately all too realistic experience with a stalker. 

In an exclusive for A.Frame.com, Okuno said, "When I came onboard and took over some of the writing, I wanted to make sure that the character of Julia, in particular, reflected my experience of being a woman in the world.” Okuno does this by showcasing Julia’s self doubt combined with others’ implication that she’s being overly sensitive. Many women are made to feel like they are being paranoid when they voice concern over ‘a feeling’. Their concerns are brushed aside as ridiculous because there is no evidence – yet. But how far do things need to go for someone to believe her? 

Watcher takes you all the way to the brink of suspense. Julia is a woman that doesn’t shy away from her intuition even if others around her see her as crazy. Watcher examines the notion that as a woman, someone is always watching. It affects the way we walk and what we wear, subconsciously or not. For Julia, this attention makes her understandably uncomfortable. When she asks her friend if she has noticed the man watching, Irena (Mãdãlina Anea) replies “maybe I just got used to men watching.” 

The camera further plays with this voyeuristic idea that someone is always watching by utilizing a shallow depth of field. Julia is in focus when she faces the camera, but behind her it’s blurry. We only see figures of men in the supermarket, crossing the street, in a cinema, but they aren’t in focus. The watcher could be anyone. We are as frustratingly clueless as Julia! Voyeuristic shots continue, showing events unfold from a distance; behind a glass, through fences, or from another room. Julia is framed in light, her surroundings in shadows. The eye is guided to our protagonist like she’s a beacon in the dark. 

Watcher is the best thriller I have seen in 2022; not just because the camera work and acting are immersive, but because of the feeling it left me with. I felt insanely strong. 

Let me explain.

“Luckily you have a big strong man to protect you,” Francis says and Julia laughs. There’s this implication throughout the film that men traditionally do the saving, yes? Well, what if there is no ‘big strong man’ around? Okuno answers this by driving home the idea that you shouldn’t need a man to set your boundaries in order for them to be respected or obeyed by people. They should just be respected. 

Although Watcher builds on the anxiety that coincides with the female experience, with its subtle soundtrack and lingering shots, the feeling of isolation is one everyone can understand, no matter gender. 

Cast & Crew

Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Gusman, Burn Gorman, Mãdãlina Anea

Director: Chloe Okuno

Writers: Chloe Okuno, based on Screenplay by Zack Ford