Post by stephen on Dec 28, 2018 5:44:04 GMT
At first glance, the title of Michael Pearce’s Jersey (the island, not the state)-set indie drama seems a bit confusing. What sort of movie is this? Is it a modern update of a classic fairy tale, perhaps? Or a tale of monstrous savagery? Is the beast the handsome yet dangerous stranger, or is it perhaps something much more nondescript and unexpected? As the film goes on, steadily cranking the dials to create a thoroughly unnerving atmosphere, we find that it’s all of the above, and more.
Beast was a sensation at the BIFAs (though not enough to dethrone The Favourite), and rightly so. Pearce’s tale of a relationship between a sheltered young woman and a rugged rogue starts off like so many fable romances—but there is a dark heart to the story, one that beats thunderously the more that the relationship blossoms. Jessie Buckley plays Moll, a meek soul who tends to her ailing father while cowering before her relentlessly browbeating mother (Geraldine James, who proves that she would make a fantastic Tywin Lannister in a gender-reversed Game of Thrones). Moll’s siblings hog much of the limelight with their successes, both personal and social, while Moll languishes as a tour guide for the island. In short, Moll is your typical fairy-tale protagonist: kin to Belle and Cinderella.
Of course, as with all such stories, a dashing charmer comes into play—here in the form of Pascal (Johnny Flynn), an outdoorsman who rescues Moll from a potentially dangerous encounter, and who awakens a fervent ardor in Moll’s heart. She sees Pascal as a path of escape from the confining life she leads, and perhaps a way to spite her mother (who of course looks upon Pascal with scorn). However, there is a sordid edge to this story as well—the normally bucolic island has become the site of several disappearances, all of young girls. Suspicion begins to zero in on Pascal, and the village starts to turn not just on him but on Moll as well.
This isn’t to say that Beast is a perfect film; at times it feels quite shaggy, in dire need of a trim here and there. It lacks the lean musculature of Thomas Vinterberg’s masterful The Hunt, which played with similar subject matter marvelously. But despite this being his debut, Pearce is no amateur. He carefully layers the film with deceit, uncertainty, and unnerving scenes that keep the audience teetering on the edge. Even if there are a few times where I feel he could’ve cut a subplot or two, that eeriness never stops hanging over the film.
Beast was a sensation at the BIFAs (though not enough to dethrone The Favourite), and rightly so. Pearce’s tale of a relationship between a sheltered young woman and a rugged rogue starts off like so many fable romances—but there is a dark heart to the story, one that beats thunderously the more that the relationship blossoms. Jessie Buckley plays Moll, a meek soul who tends to her ailing father while cowering before her relentlessly browbeating mother (Geraldine James, who proves that she would make a fantastic Tywin Lannister in a gender-reversed Game of Thrones). Moll’s siblings hog much of the limelight with their successes, both personal and social, while Moll languishes as a tour guide for the island. In short, Moll is your typical fairy-tale protagonist: kin to Belle and Cinderella.
Of course, as with all such stories, a dashing charmer comes into play—here in the form of Pascal (Johnny Flynn), an outdoorsman who rescues Moll from a potentially dangerous encounter, and who awakens a fervent ardor in Moll’s heart. She sees Pascal as a path of escape from the confining life she leads, and perhaps a way to spite her mother (who of course looks upon Pascal with scorn). However, there is a sordid edge to this story as well—the normally bucolic island has become the site of several disappearances, all of young girls. Suspicion begins to zero in on Pascal, and the village starts to turn not just on him but on Moll as well.
This isn’t to say that Beast is a perfect film; at times it feels quite shaggy, in dire need of a trim here and there. It lacks the lean musculature of Thomas Vinterberg’s masterful The Hunt, which played with similar subject matter marvelously. But despite this being his debut, Pearce is no amateur. He carefully layers the film with deceit, uncertainty, and unnerving scenes that keep the audience teetering on the edge. Even if there are a few times where I feel he could’ve cut a subplot or two, that eeriness never stops hanging over the film.