Strange Darling

 "A Thriller in 6 chapters" Announces a small blurb beneath the film's title. And then the film proper starts with a title card announcing Chapter 3.

 Strange darling is a playful, beautifully constructed serial killer epic obfuscated by a splintered chronology; It front-loads the action, throwing us in media res as "The Demon" (Kyle Gallner) chases "The Lady" (Willa Fitzgerald) first around a forest and then (after another chapter jump) in a cosy house. Earlier chapters are introduced later on to give some context to the cat and mouse games so we can assemble what's actually going on.
 It's not a hugely complex script, but writer/director JT Mollner expertly paces his reveals and pulpy twists throughout so that the film changes shape slightly a couple of times, and it goes far afield enough that a few developments got a chuckle out of me. I don't really want to go into it any more - at the risk of overhyping how clever and twisty this is (it isn't), it's definitely one of those films where it's best to go in knowing as little about it as possible.

 It looks gorgeous, with excellent direction from Mollner and some truly beautiful cinematography from Giovanni Ribisi(!), who also has a producer credit. Seriously, I cannot over-emphasize how good this movie looks: all grain, saturated colours, and a mixture of bright natural and lurid artificial lighting. You can be sure that the script finds ways to take advantage of it, decking, say, the lady in an all-red outfit to run through a vibrant Oregon forest. "Shot entirely on 35mm", a huge blurb proclaims in the title credits - I've seen some people mock that online, but I think the movie earns bragging rights by looking this damn good.

 The acting is also phenomenal, especially from Fitzgerald, who fully inhabits a very complicated character (and makes for a very convincing scream queen) - Gallner's also pretty good. Genre vet Barbara Hershey, character actor Ed Begley Jr., and some others put in some fun appearances as random bystanders, but the film is very much about its protagonists; I'd be very surprised if it doesn't make Fitzgerald into a much bigger star.

 Things get a bit grisly - not in an over the top way, things are more seeping wounds than exploding heads, and the effects are very well made. The music consists of pretty, sparse indie pop which made me think of Cat Power's covers - especially as a cover of Love Hurts has a pretty prominent place in the film. All the songs are by Z Berg, and the movie packs in a surprising amount of them. 

 

  So yeah, I'd highly recommend this one. I'm a bit wary of how highly praised it's been - A lot of the reactions I've seen severely overstate how clever it is, for example, and I'd argue that the film doesn't have that much to say once it lays all its cards on the table; But seeing things play out is still fun, and it maintains a very respectable level of cruelty. It made me think of Pearl a little bit, mostly for its technicolor exuberance, controlled but playful direction, and one shot near the end. This one's not nearly as good... but hey, it's still a pretty big compliment.