[ONE NIGHT ONLY, DIRECTOR ATTENDING] Marrow is a mood piece in which the mood nearly swallows the entire film whole. Director Matt Wilkins certainly knows how to manufacture a creeping sense of unease. It lingers over this spare story of a single mother (Frances Hearn) fixing up her newly deceased father’s secluded house while dealing with her disobedient 16-year-old son (Wiley Wilkins), whose hormonal teenage rage is beginning to literally burst holes in the walls. Hearn hides deep traumas both new and old—helpfully recounted for us in monochrome flashbacks—behind her saucer-shaped eyes. High on pain medication after breaking her leg, she begins to suffer a breakdown à la Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, at one point gently caressing her neck and wrists with the blade of a knife. It’s genuinely unnerving. At the same time, Matt Wilkins’ focus on crafting a feeling of obscure dread is alienating. We spend a lot of time with just two characters, but we never connect with them. Then again, Wilkins deserves credit for manifesting Hearns’ guilt and regret and anger in a possum—anyone who’s ever laid eyes on one of those horrible creatures knows they’re only good as a symbol for godlessness.