Revenge

You best believe this is my first review since being a member on here for a couple of years and if you didn't notice from the rating I gave it, I'm going to say this is one of the WORST movies I've watched in my entire life. The ONLY good thing about this movie is the cinematography. I am baffled as to why this movie has such a high rating. Maybe it hasn't been watched by many, maybe the people who watched it are part of the problem the industry has with the male gaze. Rape movies are SO overdone and I'm shocked this was directed by a woman. After reading an interview of hers I can see what she tried to do but I will say that she failed. This does not 'flip the script' on the male gaze. All it does is introduce a female gaze and throughout the whole movie the female lead is STILL under the male gaze, STILL scantily clad and STILL sexualized. It's infuriates me. All it does is reminds me of the female characters in video games which are almost always scantily clad. As if a bralette and bikini bottoms can protect from bullets and slashes. Fargeat, you fell prey to that which you were trying to subvert.

I saw this film premiere at TIFF 2017, and it definitely made my Midnight Madness "classics" list. It's action-suspense done RIGHT, with plenty of surprises and reversals of fortune ... and a LOT of blood. It's in the finest French Grand Guignol tradition, alongside such films as LANCELOT OF THE LAKE, MARTYRS and HAUTE TENSION. Although transpiring in a decidedly more hospitable climate and over a much smaller area, the film has unmistakable similarities to THE REVENANT. Both feature a main character left for dead (in this case, the gorgeous Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) who manages to self-recover through agonizingly painful procedures to embark on a payback quest. Her transformation from a philandering husband's sex kitten mistress to a semiautomatic-wielding vengeance machine (think Lolita to Furiosa) is most impressive. The film was written and directed by a woman, Coralie Fargeat, and she definitely makes a convincing case that women can play hardball as well as men can. Between this and Lone Scherfig's THE RIOT CLUB, I'm getting impressed with female directors' ability to make films that appeal to my demanding aesthetic. The plot is straightforward, but the execution is anything but paint-by-numbers. It features solid acting, impressive production values and deft execution that keeps you 100% engaged. If you've ever enjoyed a revenge flick, you will definitely like this. Note: If you're subtitle-averse, this film is mostly in English.

Generally speaking I dislike revenge style flicks. I Spit On Your Grave and its modern incantations were for me simply too gory and on a certain level, repulsive. Revenge manages the gore factor by toning down the excesses of many of its counterparts. Its got its blood and guts but its not by the bucketful Equally, much as the key female protagonist might be out for her ounce of flesh, the approach is not overtly or creatively sadistic. Balancing the violence of this film is a certain style and artistic flair. There's some real cleverness in the use of visuals. The ants creeping over a partly eaten apple is an interesting metaphor that hints at what's to come in the first quarter of the film. The clever transformation of the female lead from urbanised party goer to feral mud smeared gun toting wild woman, is handled with a certain care that shows in the final product. Given this film is in one sense rather basic in terms of its story and narrative the fact I rate it quite highly is a testament to how effectively visuals and action have been married up to produce a really engaging experience. 7/10 from me.