American Mary (Jen & Sylvia Soska)

[Grouchy]

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/american-mary-poster.jpg

[Grouchy]

Nay, almost Yay.

The set-up is great, Isabelle is a great protagonist and the early scenes made me feel I was in for something great. However, after the 40-minute mark (where she exacts bloody revenge on her rapist), the whole thing quickly falls apart. It's like they didn't have enough good story but they wanted it to be a feature anyway so they just stretched it artificially.

[dreamdead]

I see why one can get behind this film, but this script needs just a bit more teased out of it. I think my main complaint is that the rape revenge and the reconstruction surgeries feel like two separate narratives and don't meld together enough to make the story feel linked. That might be me applying conventional script traditions to this, but once the twins show up, the film repurposes its interests in a way that undercuts the initial trauma of sexual abuse. Furthermore, the faculty member simply couldn't talk that way with his students and not be fired.

I did find the relationship between Mary and the one henchmen interesting, but wanted that power dynamic explored more. Katherine Isabelle is impossibly gorgeous, but I wish that she'd had more than a deadpan disinterest with the cop. It made any scene where she employed it feel like the cops would immediately arrest her.

[Irish]

I think my main complaint is that the rape revenge and the reconstruction surgeries feel like two separate narratives and don't meld together enough to make the story feel linked.

The movie is about self expression and control of one's own body, and thus, identity. That's how it's connected.

I thought this had a lot of problems around the edges -- feeling bloodthirsty I really wanted them to go all the way with the gore & the body mods & make this more "New French Extremity" than "Canadian indie."

But the more I think about it, the more I like it. It's a horror movie that doesn't pander to the male gaze & doesn't play to easy vices (like the aforementioned gore).

It's a movie about identity & loneliness in a horror setting. That alone makes it special. I can't wait to see what these two do next.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This movie felt like a missed opportunity to me. An extremely interesting subculture backgrounded for yet another rape/revenge story, and one without the courtesy to actually explore Mary's descent into sociopathic compulsion. Especially frustrating because the Soska sisters clearly have keen eyes for constructing images and mood.