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Promising Young Woman

Started by zomgmouse, January 25, 2021, 01:34:43 AM

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zomgmouse

Couldn't see a thread about this. Who's seen it?

Thought it was a corker. Lots of nuance and provocation, playing with the idea of revenge, subverting it and grounding it, toying with the notion of "satisfaction" in such a narrative. Never as simple as it might seem. Great casting choices as well.

St_Eddie


Bob-Kate

I saw it last night and came here looking for a thread. Loved it. Carey Mulligan blew me away (she's always good, but can come across quite smug).

Very witty, slippery enough to keep you on your toes. Makes you think.

lazyhour

Wow, amazing film. Really surprised more of you aren't talking about it!

A very powerful story, well acted, well paced, well told. Funny and punishingly bleak.

Highly recommended. It almost plays like a bizarro/inverse Gone Girl.

Vitalstatistix

Consistently surprising and uncomfortable.

Spoiler for ending:

Spoiler alert
The smothering scene is fucking horrendous
[close]

Head Gardener

yes loved it, better than The Dig too

up_the_hampipe

Great film. I thought Bo Burnham was an excellent casting choice as someone who immediately seems trustworthy.

Custard

This is really good. As said, Mulligan is great here. Must be the best performance I've seen from her

Some decent twists and turns, and a banger of a final act

Guuuudddd

rjd2

It was really good, but the ending was very silly, read the initial ending was the bad lads
Spoiler alert
burning the body?That would have been  grimmer obviously but more impactful ending. 
[close]

Still a fun few hours and all of the cast nailing it. I like the shout outs to Night Of The Hunter also.

amputeeporn

Thought it was exceptional on many levels, though perhaps less so at the very end. Extremely impressive - interesting to follow it up with I Care A Lot this evening, also brilliant.

zomgmouse

Quote from: rjd2 on February 20, 2021, 05:19:08 AM
It was really good, but the ending was very silly, read the initial ending was the bad lads
Spoiler alert
burning the body?That would have been  grimmer obviously but more impactful ending. 
[close]

Yeah I was expecting it to end there, but the
Spoiler alert
police raid
[close]
was a decent ending as well, a
Spoiler alert
"justice of a kind but at what cost"
[close]
sort of ending.

popcorn

Thought this was fairly bad. Naff, shallow, smug, toothless. The characters are so thin - here's Carey hanging out in her coffee shop, dissing customers and chatting with her cool sassy romcom boss, hip, witty exchanges you can write yourself in your head - mega cringe.

SPONGLERS BELOW

Badly edited - some noticeable continuity fuckups and so on, and what's with that midsection montage that goes on 80% longer that i needs to?

I was disappointed that, as someone else said, she doesn't actually fuck anyone up - she just gives them a telling off. If she actually was a serial killer-torture-revenge person, it would have made the whole revenge genre flick pastiche work - instead it's just... mucking around.

I found her lectures sort of embarrassing. Like, one of the would-be rapists says, "I thought we had a connection!" and she says "Oh yeah? What's my job? Do you even know my name?" and the guy is flabbergasted like damn, she's got him there. But I couldn't help but think: "Come on. That isn't what he meant. He meant in the bar earlier they had some chemistry, they were flirting, that's a connection." (I understand that isn't what happened because whole routine is that she's too drunk for any of that sort of thing to happen, and she never reciprocates anything - but like much of the film it felt too easy somehow, too straightforward, too dumb.)

I liked that she set Alison Brie up for a revenge rape, as it embraces the nastiness of the genre concept and made her much more complex and contradictory - but it turns out that didn't happen either, not because Carey is a Paul Bateman fantasist but because she's simply, boringly, above reproach. It would also have raised the stakes for the final confrontation at the bachelor party, because we'd have known what she was capable of.

I thought the ending was going to be more interesting than it was - like, ha, she just failed, the cops don't care because she was a slut and the patriarchy wins, what an ending, a big meta punchline. But that didn't happen, oh well.

As far as hip contemporary films addressing similar themes goes, it was way less effective or interesting than Under the Skin or I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Radically different films but they express some related sentiments with far more ingenuity and creativity and make much bolder statements.

El Unicornio, mang

I really liked this, some genuinely shocking twists. My one gripe is that the
Spoiler alert
reveal of Bo Burnham's character, who I thought was really well observed and reminded me of a couple of people I know irl, as just being another douche masquerading as a right-on good guy didn't quite convince. I think he would have revealed his true colours earlier, when he saw her leaving the bar with fedora guy, although of course it doesn't work with the narrative. Also found the scene in the pharmacy very cringe.
[close]

phantom_power

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on March 09, 2021, 04:50:52 PM
I really liked this, some genuinely shocking twists. My one gripe is that the
Spoiler alert
reveal of Bo Burnham's character, who I thought was really well observed and reminded me of a couple of people I know irl, as just being another douche masquerading as a right-on good guy didn't quite convince. I think he would have revealed his true colours earlier, when he saw her leaving the bar with fedora guy, although of course it doesn't work with the narrative. Also found the scene in the pharmacy very cringe.
[close]

He isn't though is he? My take was that he was a reasonably decent guy who witnessed some bad stuff in the past and was too weak to stand up for the victims. That isn't excusable behaviour but I think it is a different kind of personality than the other men she torments in the film.

I really liked it and thought it dealt with the issues of consent and culpability in interesting ways. I think having her be a true avenging angel who doled out punishment to her victims would be a bit too Death Wish and also make the ending have less emotional impact as she would be a less relatable person. I don't think it pulled punches as much as wasn't interested in a boxing match in the first place

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: phantom_power on March 11, 2021, 02:05:16 PM
He isn't though is he? My take was that he was a reasonably decent guy who witnessed some bad stuff in the past and was too weak to stand up for the victims. That isn't excusable behaviour but I think it is a different kind of personality than the other men she torments in the film.


I was thinking that too, until the point where she left him in his office and he made the snide comment about her being a loser for dropping out of medical school. It seemed like they wanted to show that he's actually the awful person that she's "discovered" him to be after watching the video, but for me it didn't gel with his fedora guy reaction.

phantom_power

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on March 11, 2021, 02:10:01 PM
I was thinking that too, until the point where she left him in his office and he made the snide comment about her being a loser for dropping out of medical school. It seemed like they wanted to show that he's actually the awful person that she's "discovered" him to be after watching the video, but for me it didn't gel with his fedora guy reaction.

I think it was just lashing out because he was angry at being confronted (and not forgiven) and scared of any consequences. It was a very real reaction for me. I think it is a natural tendency to have that visceral defensive reaction when confronted with your misdeeds like that, doubly so when you know you are guilty

Blinder Data

A polite request to Deeper into Movies posters: when starting threads about a new film, please tell us where we can watch it (e.g. Netflix).

Unless you're all dirty pirates. Are you all dirty pirates?

olliebean

According to justwatch.com, it doesn't appear to be available to stream anywhere. As to whether we're all dirty pirates, you might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

#18
I watched this a couple of nights ago and I think I really hated it. Maybe it's my fault, because going in I was expecting it to be a sort of serial killer / revenge flick and it isn't.

SPOILERS BELOW, OBVIOUSLY

Pretty much none of the characters are likeable at all, which is fine - that can be interesting sometimes. Like every man in the film (except for Cassie's dad) is a piece of shit, and that's fine too, if that's what the film is trying to say, but I just felt like it was constantly trying to sideswipe and gotcha me as a viewer. Oh, what's that dripping down her arm? Is it blood? Nah, just a ridiculous amount of ketchup that for some reason has dripped on her leg as well. Ah, but look, she set up her bitchy ex-friend to get revenge raped by a guy in a bar. Oh wait, no she didn't, he just... tucked her in... to a hotel room bed?

I agree with some of Popcorn's points. It doesn't have the balls to either have Cassie kill the rapist at the end, or the two frat boy pricks get away with her murder - at least those are endings. The final scene, where her big plan from beyond the grave comes to fruition and the cops immediately know which guy to arrest was like that awful TV show about the girl who killed herself and sent tapes to all of her bullies after her death. And that middle scene with the pharmacy and the dinner at the parents' house was fucking terrible.
I kept asking myself throughout, 'what is this film?' If it's a rape revenge film, then make it gory, let's have some proper comeuppance. If it's a film about how revenge and obsession lead to tragedy then make it ultra-bleak and end with her death, the privileged white frat boy arseholes get away with it, life is shit. If it's a romance, where she can be lead off her path of self-destruction by an actual nice guy who doesn't just want to fuck her and leave her, then do that.

Also, to address this point

Quote from: popcorn on March 06, 2021, 03:42:21 PM
it turns out that didn't happen either, not because Carey is a Paul Bateman fantasist but because she's simply, boringly, above reproach. It would also have raised the stakes for the final confrontation at the bachelor party, because we'd have known what she was capable of.

we only have Cassandra's word that Madison wasn't raped, or that the Dean's daughter was actually waiting in a coffee shop. We never get confirmation either way. That could have been interesting, but no. It wasn't.

And spitting in someone's coffee only to have that person drink it whilst making eye contact with you, moments after meeting each other for the first time in years, isn't cute or quirky.

I mean, I'm fine with films pulling a fast one or going down different routes, but this just annoyed me massively.

C_Larence

I liked it up until
Spoiler alert
she died
[close]
and then had a damascene conversion to actively hating it.
Spoiler alert
The whole movie was about how figures of authority let her friend's life get ruined, and the audience is supposed to be satisfied that it's now in the police's hands????? Fuck all the way off. Not to mention the plan relies on the very same lawyer who represented the rapist! But it's ok because he said sorry and he can't sleep
[close]
. A truly awful, liberal, #metoo era, girlboss turd of an ending.

Bad Ambassador

Apparently it's exclusive to Sky Cinema and NOW TV from 16 April.

popcorn

#21
Quote from: Prison Biscuits on March 29, 2021, 10:51:06 AM
we only have Cassandra's word that Madison wasn't raped, or that the Dean's daughter was actually waiting in a coffee shop. We never get confirmation either way. That could have been interesting, but no. It wasn't.

I'm sure we're meant to assume that she didn't really do those things - I don't think it's left ambiguous. The film is far too lame to present Cassie as anything other than a perfect person who'd never do anything that would make her as bad as her victims (until the frat party, which makes the party feel weird, like presumably this is the first time she's ever done something like this).

Quote
And spitting in someone's coffee only to have that person drink it whilst making eye contact with you, moments after meeting each other for the first time in years, isn't cute or quirky.

Yeah, this is the kind of thing I thought was incredibly embarrassing, just constant shit disaffected-romcom stuff like that.

Quote from: Prison Biscuits on March 29, 2021, 10:51:06 AM
I kept asking myself throughout, 'what is this film?' If it's a rape revenge film, then make it gory, let's have some proper comeuppance. If it's a film about how revenge and obsession lead to tragedy then make it ultra-bleak and end with her death, the privileged white frat boy arseholes get away with it, life is shit. If it's a romance, where she can be lead off her path of self-destruction by an actual nice guy who doesn't just want to fuck her and leave her, then do that.

Yeah - it's a film that uses the language and style of the revenge film but doesn't have the guts to actually be a revenge film. It's far too nice.

Also, another one of those films where they show another film in it (Night Of The Hunter) and you think "yeah, wish I was watching that instead" (see also: The Lodge, where they're watching The Thing).

zomgmouse

Quote from: Prison Biscuits on March 29, 2021, 10:51:06 AM
I watched this a couple of nights ago and I think I really hated it. Maybe it's my fault, because going in I was expecting it to be a sort of serial killer / revenge flick and it isn't.

But that's the point, no? That's exactly why I liked it. It drags you firmly into the real world, but also toys with that as a concept.

Quote from: Prison Biscuits on March 29, 2021, 10:51:06 AMIt doesn't have the balls to either
Spoiler alert
have Cassie kill the rapist at the end, or the two frat boy pricks get away with her murder
[close]
- at least those are endings.

Again, see above - I think it's a beautiful subversion of expectations.


Quote from: C_Larence on March 29, 2021, 10:59:02 AM
I liked it up until
Spoiler alert
she died
[close]
and then had a damascene conversion to actively hating it.
Spoiler alert
The whole movie was about how figures of authority let her friend's life get ruined, and the audience is supposed to be satisfied that it's now in the police's hands????? Fuck all the way off. Not to mention the plan relies on the very same lawyer who represented the rapist! But it's ok because he said sorry and he can't sleep
[close]
. A truly awful, liberal, #metoo era, girlboss turd of an ending.

Not that I know exactly but to me it served as an interesting commentary on the fact that
Spoiler alert
the police didn't pay attention to the fate of a woman until she was murdered
[close]
. And personally I bought the lawyer's sense of guilt so it felt apt.

Quote from: popcorn on March 29, 2021, 11:00:02 AM
Yeah - it's a film that uses the language and style of the revenge film but doesn't have the guts to actually be a revenge film. It's far too nice.

I don't think it's that it doesn't have the guts, I think it's actively questioning the nature of revenge.

C_Larence

Quote from: zomgmouse on March 30, 2021, 12:09:35 AM
Not that I know exactly but to me it served as an interesting commentary on the fact that
Spoiler alert
the police didn't pay attention to the fate of a woman until she was murdered
[close]
. And personally I bought the lawyer's sense of guilt so it felt apt.

[spoilerA woman already died and nobody except for Cassie cared. The end is presented as some epic moment of triumph but it completely relies on people in positions of power suddenly going against everything they've previously been shown to do.[/spoiler]

This review I read on letterboxd sums it up.

Spoiler alert
i was physically agitated sitting thru this and that was BEFORE it takes on like a boondock saints tone for a couple scenes at the end ...... i would like to say here & now any random 70s rape-revenge movie is less disgusting. open, frictive misogyny > status quo girlboss scolding

to the whole cops thing: miss emerald fennel seed the genre is literally about women who murder rxpists bc there is no other kind of justice to be found. the woman whose assault drives the plot isn't even around to avenge herself - which means carey mulligan's motivations are weirdly vicarious. when kier-la janisse said rape-revenge protagonists have the most elemental motivation possible, to the point where you never need to ask like "why is she killing this guy?" — this is the total opposite of that. grisly. also no guys even die. fraud!! fraudulent !!!!!!!

adding injury to insult - the titular allusion to brock turner is a pretty grotesque appropriation of chanel miller's trauma. AND for a movie that can't even give survivors the catharsis of seeing a rapist die ??????? AND for a movie that puts its trust in the fucking US judicial system to handle sexual assault lmao i can't w this. i know we've all been quarantined a real long time but don't tell me y'all forgot the smell of bullshit!!!!
[close]

zomgmouse

Quote from: C_Larence on March 30, 2021, 01:24:37 AM
Spoiler alert
A woman already died and nobody except for Cassie cared. The end is presented as some epic moment of triumph but it completely relies on people in positions of power suddenly going against everything they've previously been shown to do.
[close]

Yeah but
Spoiler alert
that was a suicide not a murder
[close]
.

Quote from: C_Larence on March 30, 2021, 01:24:37 AM
This review I read on letterboxd sums it up.

Spoiler alert
i was physically agitated sitting thru this and that was BEFORE it takes on like a boondock saints tone for a couple scenes at the end ...... i would like to say here & now any random 70s rape-revenge movie is less disgusting. open, frictive misogyny > status quo girlboss scolding

to the whole cops thing: miss emerald fennel seed the genre is literally about women who murder rxpists bc there is no other kind of justice to be found. the woman whose assault drives the plot isn't even around to avenge herself - which means carey mulligan's motivations are weirdly vicarious. when kier-la janisse said rape-revenge protagonists have the most elemental motivation possible, to the point where you never need to ask like "why is she killing this guy?" — this is the total opposite of that. grisly. also no guys even die. fraud!! fraudulent !!!!!!!

adding injury to insult - the titular allusion to brock turner is a pretty grotesque appropriation of chanel miller's trauma. AND for a movie that can't even give survivors the catharsis of seeing a rapist die ??????? AND for a movie that puts its trust in the fucking US judicial system to handle sexual assault lmao i can't w this. i know we've all been quarantined a real long time but don't tell me y'all forgot the smell of bullshit!!!!
[close]

I think this is an understandably knee-jerk reaction to the film but I also disagree with it.

popcorn

It is odd that in the end the real cathartic fantasy we are invited to enter is "what if the justice system suddenly worked after all".

St_Eddie

It's also odd that you shot at your own damn feet off in Resident Evil, but them's the breaks.

St_Eddie

Goes without saying but; Barry 4 the win! Dad bods and ginger beards are best!

Seriously though; popcorn is proper shite at the Resident Evil games.  Dreadful, in fact.  He quite literally shot his own damn feet.  Zombie stood there and mofo shoots his own damn feet!  It was a right spectacle.  I was thoroughly appalled.

St_Eddie