The Movie: Revenge
The Director: Coralie Fargeat
The Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchède, Jean-Louis Tribes
The Story: Never take your mistress on an annual guys' getaway, especially one devoted to hunting - a violent lesson for three wealthy married men.
The Review:
This movie was the perfect way to kick off the midnight movie programming portion of the 2018 Seattle International Film Festival as director Coralie Fargeat has created a beautifully brutal grindhouse style bloodbath that gives the genre a huge shot in the arm. What's most interesting about this story, which has been done many times over the years, is seeing it from a fresh female perspective that replaces the male gaze with subtle visual cues that are just as jarring as the inevitably blood soaked third act.
The primary character in this story is a young socialite mistress who finds herself in a really bad situation during what is supposed to be an all guys weekend hunting trip. After a series of escalating events leads to her being abused, discarded, and left for dead, this surprisingly resilient woman resurrects and recreates herself into a deadly, revenge seeking, killing machine. This amazing transformation is brought to life by Matilda Lutz who really held nothing back in her performance and the result is one of the more iconic genre characters we've seen in a long time.
The two pictures I have chosen for this review really show the before and after sides of the character and Fargeat expertly transitions, not only the person, but the look and style of the film as the story progresses. It goes from slick, glossy, and sexy to dirty, bloody, and violent and, by the end, you're cheering for the newly born heroine to win the day and freaking out about how much blood is covering pretty much everything in sight.
The Verdict:
Revenge is a gratuitously rewarding thrill ride and a triumphant debut feature for Coralie Fargeat. The movie is jam packed with that classic grindhouse magic and every bit of it is executed perfectly from start to finish.
Revenge is an official selection of the 2018 Seattle International Film Festival.
TwoOhSix.com coverage for the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival.
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