“Piercing”
“Phantom Thread,” but with way more blood. That wouldn’t be a disingenuous way to describe “Piercing,” Nicolas Pesce’s follow-up to “The Eyes of My Mother,” based on the novel by Ryû Murakami. Reed (Christopher Abbott) needs to satiate his bloodlust by murdering someone, preferably a prostitute. Jackie (Mia Wasikowska) – the prostitute he orders – is more than he bargained for, which leads to a series of strange, messed-up, kinky, and twisty events that won’t get mentioned here. Pesce is clearly going for giallo throwback, with gorgeous color harmony, beautifully crafted miniature work, and a prog-rock score that has not one, but two Goblin needle drops (the themes from both Argento’s “Deep Red” and “Tenebre”). It’s sleek and stylish, but also has a way of getting under these characters’ skins and revealing their traumatic pasts in a streamlined way. There’s a solid character study underneath all of the bloodshed and tricky double-crosses, and Abbott and Wasikowska are up to the task every step of the way. It may be for more twisted-minded individuals, but it’s hard to deny that the movie is entertaining as hell. [B+]
“Profile”
Timur Bekmambetov (“Night Watch,” “Wanted”) is the pioneer of the “screen life” genre. He helped shepherd “Unfriended” and its sequel, as well as the recent “Searching,” but “Profile” is the first of these type of films where he has stepped into the director’s chair. Truth be told, it’s the best one to have come out, and the best film that Bekmambetov has made. “Unfriended” is undoubtedly a trailblazer, but its provocation is consistently marred by the necessity of jump scares. “Profile” finally finds a story where this style not only fits but enhances, the narrative. Amy (Valene Kane) is a journalist who goes undercover to do a piece on young European women who are being recruited by ISIS. She meets a recruiter named Bilel (Shazad Latif) online while posing as a recent Muslim convert, and starts a rapport with him and talks to him nearly every day for research. Instead of a horror film (though it has its moments for sure), “Profile” takes on the form of a film like “Infernal Affairs” or “The Departed,” and becomes more of a complex detective film where the protagonist gets so deep that they don’t know where their loyalties lie. The most complex nature of “Profile” is that it gets empathy to all of its subjects, including Bilel. It also manages to muddy the waters in regards to loyalty and deceit and takes many unexpected – but completely logical – twists. A large portion of jobs are online nowadays, and “Profile” effortlessly taps into that with a film that is consistently, dramatically engaging. [A-]
“Relaxer”
“127 Hours,” but on the couch. Joel Potrykus is possessed by the bygone era of early Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith, all to our benefit as the viewer. For 90 minutes, he forces us to watch Abbie (“Buzzard’s” Joshua Burge) – a shirtless, baggy-eyed, pale-skinned dude who is constantly put through “challenges” and filmed by his belligerent older brother (David Dastmalchian) – try to complete his ultimate challenge: he can’t leave the couch until he gets past the record “Pac-Man” level of 256. The creative ways that Abbie attempts to get his basic necessities is both hilarious and sad. And as the film gets progressively stranger (and grosser), it’s clear that Potrykus is both transporting us to a simpler time with the pre-Y2K setting, while also using that to comment on our present. It does create the aforementioned hangout vibe of a Linklater or Smith film where Gen X slackers exchange witty, sometimes acidic, banter, but as Abbie’s situation grows worse, he’s still content to hang out on the couch. Most people will let things get so much worse before they allow themselves to do something about it, and that is “Relaxer” in a nutshell. It’s offbeat, hilarious, disgusting, sad, strange, and absolutely needs to be seen to be believed. It’s the type of film where you might lose friends suggesting it to the wrong person, but it’s a hill worth dying on. [A]