Starring Sarah Paulson, Amiah Miller, Annaleigh Ashford, Alona Jane Robbins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Bill Heck

Directed by Karrie Crouse and Will Joines

Disney+

The dustbowl is choking the life out of Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson)’s land, home and family. One daughter is dead, her husband is away working and between the endless storms and the constant struggle to put a brave face forward, Margaret is coming apart at the seams. Then the Grey Man arrives.

Paulson is one of those performers who is always worth watching and Hold Your Breath is no exception. Her Margaret is an intensely brittle, terrified woman who is at the same time no one’s victim. The script’s smartest beats, and it has a lot of them, all explore the collision between her trauma, her desire to protect her children and the environment. There are some especially effective jumps in time where Paulson is the anchor point that really lock in the sense of time starting to break out on the farm.

Directors Karrie Crouse and Will Joines have an eye for a strong image and the movie’s best moments are grounded in Margaret’s exhaustion and the endless storm. The time jumps are joined by an increasingly tense sewing circle and a chilling standoff between Margaret and… something… in the darkness.

The issue some people will have with the movie is the ambiguity around just what’s out there. A major plot point is Margaret’s children reading the legend of the Grey Man, who wanders the dust and makes people do terrible things. We may meet him, and certainly meet a deeply unsettling preacher, and possible healer, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Moss-Bachrach is every inch as good as Paulson and is gifted a fantastic first scene here. He’s also a vital part of the movie’s most unsettling moment, where Margaret holds someone who may be the preacher, may be the Grey Man or may be Rose, Margaret’s oldest daughter.

Amiah Miller as Rose, is the movie’s secret weapon. Determined, focused, compassionate and clear eyed where no one else is the film gradually moves her into the role of protagonist for its second half.

Miller is honestly why the second half works. The payoff here is well handled but feels a little off the shelf in a way none of the rest of the movie is. The film tries for ambiguity, and the directors have talked about how open to interpretation the ending is. But unfortunately the most obvious interpretation is reductive and conservative in a way nothing else here has been.

Verdict: It’s a shame, but even with this misstep, Hold Your Breath has enough invention, and powerhouse performance, to make it worth your while. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart