Strange Darling
2023
**½
Director: JT Mollner
Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Madisen Beaty, Steven Michael Quezada, Ed Begley Jr., Barbara Hershey, Bianca A. Santos, Denise Grayson, Eugenia Kuzmina, Sheri Foster
A man and a woman meet and check into a motel for a kinky one-night stand. As the night unfolds, it becomes clear that something darker is at play, and the encounter spirals into a violent cat-and-mouse. JT Mollner’s second feature is a pulpy, bloody exploitation thriller presented in six out-of-order chapters with goofy titles. So far, so Tarantino. Ultimately, I found the non-linear structure frustrating rather than exhilarating, and felt it was used to disguise an unoriginal script and protect the one big twist. Nevertheless, Willa Fitzgerald gives an impressive lead performance. The title card announces that the film was shot on 35 mm film (by Giovanni Ribisi, in his cinematographic debut). Why is that significant or special?
