piercing
Piercing is a stylish exercise in retro horror-thriller filmmaking, but its stabs (no pun intended) at something deeper are mostly ineffective.
Christopher Abbott stars inPiercingas Reed , a on the face of it medium family man who get himself more and more struggling to take his desire to kill someone . Not wanting to hurt his new-sprung child or wife Mona ( Laia Costa ) , Reed or else makes program to murder an unsuspecting prostitute while away on what he tells Mona is a business trip . Upon arriving at the hotel where he intends to intrust the crime , Reed meticulously plans out everything he ’ll need to do to carry out the slaying as quickly and quietly as potential - from the necessary equipment to the way he ’ll take his escort if he can bind them up .
However , Reed get more than he bargained for when his call girl , Jackie ( Mia Wasikowska ) , arrives at his room . While she seems unassuming at first , it quickly becomes clear that Jackie is extremely turbulent and might be even more disturbed than Reed , in some mode . When one thing go to another and the pair are off on a trip-up to the hospital , Jackie even tells her node that she knows the literal cause he hired her to begin with . As the night stretches on , Reed mature increasingly panicked and uncertain whether Jackiereallyknows what he wants and is toying with him , or if she ’s get him wreak a dangerous game of her own making now .
In a way , Piercingis to Pesce whatYou’re Nextis to Adam Wingard . It ’s a atavist that manifest its managing director ’s power to evoke the expressive style of an older genre , and mostly succeeds in its efforts to demoralise conventions . At the same time , there ’s not a lot going on under the toughie of the elevator car , as much asPiercingmight have you believe otherwise . The photographic film want to get at deeper musical theme about voyeurism and desire , but its narrative offers more of a open - story visceral experience than a thematically superimposed or meaningful one . motion-picture show as varied asAmerican Psycho , Audition(which was also adjust from a Murakami novel ) , and even P.T. Anderson’sPhantom Threadhave toyed with similar conception , yet managed to be either comic and/or more bitter in the way they respect the gender political science of horror - or , inAudition ’s case , more distressful - than the final results here .
At the same time , there is something absorbing about the shift power moral force between Reed and Jackie , peculiarly in the shot where Reed ( and , by proxy , the audience ) is trying to fancy just what , exactly , is run short through his companion ’s intellect . The theatrical role of a wannabe sophisticated in series Orcinus orca act to Abbott ’s strengths as an player , even if the moving picture never goes far enough in research Reed ’s traumatic past tense and its last encroachment to make him feel like a to the full - realized character . Something interchangeable could be said for Jackie , though of the pair she ’s the more compelling and entertaining to watch thanks to Wasikowska . TheStokerandCrimson Peakstar has carved out a niche for herself as a medical specialist in this kind of retro - horror exercise and hits all the right notes throughout the film , as her character ’s mode and emotion continuously seem to turn on a dime bag . In a cat and mouse plot where one can never be too certain which is which , it ’s Wasikowska who draw the whole thing enjoyable .
That being said , Pesce is as much the champion here as either of his lead actors . The filmmaker pose to show off his sense of craftsmanship throughoutPiercingand demo a existent knack for using sound to make the film ’s instant of violence all the more unsettling and antic , without necessarily showing as much of it as potential . In fact , the most grisly ( and darkly funny ) view in the entire movie is perhaps one that regard no actual violence and instead follows Reed as he reckon how he will carry out his intended heinous criminal offense . More than anything , Piercingsuggests that Pesce is still evolving his style as a movie maker by trying his hand at different horror musical genre and has a bright future onwards of him , should he continue to elaborate his sensibilities and learn to apply his style to bring out the heart and soul of his motion-picture show .
All thing considered , Piercingis a flawed but interesting sophomore effort from Pesce and should leave his fans curious to see him leave his stamp on another horror genre ( J - horror ) with next year’sGrudgereboot . This one is believably too nasty and twisted to have much appealingness outside of the hardcore repulsion crowd , but those who appreciate a well - construct love varsity letter to the genre ’s story will almost undoubtedly likePiercingmore than others . The fit double for those who ’ve savour Wasikowska ’s old work and are happy to see that she ’s keeping it weird and unfounded with her film pick .
TRAILER
Piercingis now playing in select theaters , and is available On Demand and Digital HD . It is 81 minute long and is rated gas constant for aberrant violent and sexual content , nudeness , and lyric .
thrust is a psychological thriller directed by Nicolas Pesce . The pic boast Christopher Abbott as Reed , a man who meticulously plan to murder an unsuspecting prostitute to satisfy his violent urges . Mia Wasikowska stars as Jackie , the intended victim whose own dark tendencies lead to an unsettling and perverted cat - and - shiner game . The movie is based on Ryū Murakami ’s novel and explore themes of control , desire , and the human nous .
Mia Wasikowska in Piercing
Cristopher Abbott in Piercing
Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowka in Piercing
