Hokum’s Spin on the Folktale Genre
This weekend saw the release of Neon’s Hokum, starring Adam Scott in the starring role as disengaged writer Ohm Bauman. Arriving at the site of his late parents’ honeymoon to spread their ashes, he soon realizes the guests within the hotel are not what they seem, least of all the presence wandering the honeymoon suite.
The way this film keeps its audience suspended in tandem with its protagonist feels like a breath of fresh air. A chill ran through the theater during my screening every time Ohm eased closer to a space he was taking a risk on. Any jumpscare sequence throughout its runtime isn’t exactly graphic, but this was also what I found so unique about it. Like Ohm, we know well that something lurks within the chambers of the honeymoon suite, and when and where they might rear their head next is anyone’s guess.
What I took away from Adam Scott’s dramatic role in this film alongside his work in a series like Severance is his ability to play a flawed character you don’t quite root for, but certainly don’t root against. Hokum keeps its audience guessing as to what secret any given character is hiding, including Mr. Bauman himself.
Even as whispers of the truth behind the hotel keep slipping through the cracks, I never found many of the twists and turns the film took to be cliché or predictable at all. One discovery leads into another realization, all the while utilizing or re-introducing a clue you may have overlooked before.
Shooting this film on location in Ireland definitely helps bring the whole thing together. The way the characters discuss Irish folklore makes it feel as though this whole section of the country is teeming with secrets and supernatural energy. I wanted to know what lay beyond the hotel and nearby forest as much as the hotel’s bartender or the homeless man in the forest.
Since its release last Friday, Hokum has already made back its $5 million production budget. In an interview with RogerEbert.com, Adam Scott described his portrayal of Ohm in the film as somewhat method, which may explain how close the audience reaction to its unease flies to Mr. Bauman’s own. Being a “skeptic” just like his character, Scott mentioned “being a stranger in a strange land came somewhat naturally” as he also explored the film’s setting for the first time.
Hokum is now playing in theaters nationwide.