Fresh debuts on Hulu on March 4, 2022.
A deliciously demented horror film that doesn't even begin to let you in on what it's really about until after its opening credits roll a whopping 30 minutes into its nearly two-hour runtime, Fresh offers a full-course meal that incorporates many genres, but manages to stay grounded and balanced thanks to its two lead performances — including Sebastian Stan, who joins the great pantheon of charismatic yet despicable horror villains.
Fresh starts with hors-d'oeuvres, presenting Daisy Edgar-Jones' Noa as she navigates the brutal, ruthless world of modern online dating, and the parade of terrible guys she meets. Just as hope seems lost, the appetizer arrives in the form of Stan's Steve, who is by all accounts the perfect guy — funny, smart, caring, and also a doctor with the looks of, well, Sebastian Stan. Director Mimi Cave delays the inevitable reveal of Steve's true intentions as long as possible while exploring every rom-com trick in the book, from the meet-cute at the supermarket while discussing the merits of cotton candy grapes to talking about their families over a nice dinner. Cave manages to make the coupling of Noa and Steve believable, showing why she would fall head over heels for this guy and ignore all the obvious red flags.
It is not until the salad and the fish have been served and consumed that Lauryn Kahn's script presents us with the opening credits and the light meal of crudités turns into a red-blood meat fest of a horror main course. Spending a quarter of the film's runtime on a typical rom-com with this couple makes the shoe drop hit harder, especially since Edgar-Jones and Stan have palpable chemistry together, and make it really easy to root for them. Edgar-Jones does a terrific job playing into the naive hopefulness, then the utter shock and horror of Noa, but like most films about psychopaths or abductions like Misery or American Psycho, Fresh belongs to the villain. Thankfully, Stan is more than up to the task, showing a side of him Marvel movies have deprived us of for years but is just starting to come off, between this and in Pam & Tommy: a dazzling, energetic psychopath who dances around the kitchen while oozing all kinds of perverse, charming energy. Far from Christian Bale's cold Patrick Bateman, Steve is approachable and chivalrous, equal parts knight in shining armor and absolute monster. Every new scene with him is an extra course to an already full meal.
To help intensify the flavors of the big, fat, juicy steak that is Stan's performance and the second act of the film, Fresh brings out its secret sauce: Pawel Pogorzelski's cinematography. Having already shown us the horrors of vacationing to Scandinavia in Midsommar, he turns his eyes toward giving Fresh an unsettling yet lush style that often offers extreme close-ups of Steve's handiwork like it was Eli Roth's Hostel without so much gore. The result is about the cleanest, grossest horror movie of the year so far, one with repulsive moments, as well as clips of Sebastian Stan singing '80s synth-pop songs.
Sadly, Fresh does not reach 3-Michelin-star levels of excellence. For one, while it meticulously sets up a vast world with many players and intricate rules, it also leaves most of it at surface level without explaining why it matters or how it plays into the story. Then there's the treatment of Noa's best friend, Mollie (Jojo T. Gibbs), who is sadly relegated to the tired trope of token Black sidekick whose only job is to serve Noa's story. It is a stale bite in the middle of an otherwise stellar course.
By the time Fresh reaches its climax, it delivers a rich and sweet dessert that brings both deliciously violent catharsis, and makes the film's allegory come full circle. Fresh may not break the mold in terms of horror satires, but it introduces one of the best horror villains in a while, as well as a full-course meal in Edgar-Jones and Stan's delicious chemistry. By the time the end credits roll, you may find yourself asking for seconds.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/7t8Gwml
This could be a real lead forward for personal gaming... Revolutionise gaming
No comments:
Post a Comment