Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems, no matter what the cost.
First, let me say that this was
Anton Yelchin's final movie before his passing in 2016. He's always been on my list of highly underrated actors and in many of my reviews over the years.
Odd Thomas,
Fright Night,
Burying the Ex,
Star Trek Beyond and
Green Room. You will be remembered.
What a movie! For
Cory Finley's directorial debut, this was a solid win.
Anya Taylor-Joy and
Olivia Cooke were dark and deadly. The combination of dry humor mixed with the perfect slow pace and morose tones was MADE for these two.
Cory Finley dropped, what felt to me, like a deliberate filming style that sent a little wink and a nod to Kubrik.
Don't let the genre of comedy fool you, this is NOT a typical comedy. I saw the tagline of "Heathers meets American Psycho" and smiled. Those are two of my favorite irreverent and darkly sadistic movies. This did not fail me. There's something compelling about these emotionally stunted girls who live a bored privileged life, just bored enough to do anything.
What
Olivia Cooke brings as Amanda is pure gold. While there were some obvious flaws with her "by the book" sociopath persona, it was a great performance. (
She was also great in Ready Player One click the link to read my review!) She feels nothing, every emotion is a muscle memorization. We all have that little piece that makes us ambivalent, but she lives there permanently. Lily on the other hand played by
Anya Taylor-Joy is overwrought with emotions. (
She was also great in The Witch and Split, click the links to read my reviews!) She is the empirical opposite of Amanda in every way and their friendship seems doomed from the start.
What I DID LIKE about this movie:
- Writing and Direction. Cory Finley will be on my watch list for future movies.
- Cinematography- Well done Lyle Vincent. After reviewing his credentials, I am not a bit surprised that I enjoyed his style.
- Soundtrack- Hauntingly beautiful
DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF SPOILERS ARE A CONCERN
From the first minute when you realize that not only were Amanda and Lily friends who hadn't spoken in many years the reasons are forefront in your mind. As the clues are revealed throughout the film, it becomes clear that their paths were very different. Seems that Amanda had "put down" a thoroughbred horse after its leg was broken and was convicted of animal cruelty for the way that she did it.
There are subtle notes of foreshadowing as the girls go down their plan to rid Lily of her disturbingly overbearing step father. It's obvious that Lily would be the major beneficiary of the deed, but someone was going to have to take the fall. At first they had selected local drug dealer Tim (
Anton Yelchin) was was a massive failure. Next was a do-it-yourself style that also fell apart. Finally, the true "bad guy" rears her head when Lily spikes Amanda's drink and kills her step-father and places the blood and knife in Amanda's hands on the couch. We zoom forward a little to learn that Amanda is now in mental hospital and Lily is interviewing for college. Feels like she may have set it up! Best last line of the movie is when she see Tim who asks about Amanda and Lily said she received a letter. She begins reading the letter to the audience...
Amanda: [Amanda's voice reading her letter to the audience] I had a dream.. I rise out of my body, and I'm staring down at our whole suburb, and time is speeding up. And I see generations of people coming, and going, and building bigger houses. And then eventually... the people start spending more and more of their time staring at their smartphones. And soon enough, they're forgetting to clean their houses, or mow their lawns, or eat. And eventually all the houses rot and collapse, and the people disappear, vanishing completely into the Internet. And then... and this is the really beautiful part, the horses take over. And the whole suburb is just beautiful thoroughbred stallions with no owners and no memory of owners and no way of knowing how expensive they are, just mating and galloping through the ruins.
Lily: I don't know. I just threw it away.
On a more personal note..... 
GENERAL INFORMATION
What I really love about the Harrison and the Virginia Opera is that before every performance is a 30 minute introduction to the themes and music and a little lesson about the opera itself. That really makes the music more enjoyable. There is a sense of understanding that you get when you can hear the music beforehand and know that when you hear a certain piece, to watch for something. Love this!
