"Beast" (2017 release from the UK) brings the story of Moll, a woman in her mid-20s. As the movie opens, we see Moll participating in her church choir practice, led by an older lady who turns out to be her mom. Next day, it's Moll's birthday but she's not enjoying herself at the cookout party, and instead goes to the local pub where she meets a guy, and they dance and walk all night. The next morning when the guy tries to impose himself on her, Moll is rescued by another guy, named Pascal. Pascal and Moll hit it off immediately. Meanwhile, in a parallel story, the isle of Jersey is rocked once again when a 15 yr. old girl goes missing that same day of Moll's cookout party. It's the 4th girl in a row... At this point we're less than 15 minutes into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut film from writer-director Michael Pearce. Here he brings a plot-heavy mystery thriller/psychological drama in which we ask several questions: how did Moll end up living at her parents' house in her mid-20s, with her mom ruling the household with an iron fist? what to make of Pascal, and is he possibly connected with the disappeared girls? and what does the future hold between Moll and Pascal? The movie is set and filmed on the isle of Jersey, off the coast of northwestern France. I have never been there, and it looks to be much bigger than I had imagined it (Moll is a tourist bus tour guide, incidentally). Pearce works mostly with a cast of unknowns (the only one i recognized was Geraldine James as Moll's mom). And what to say about Jessie Buckley, the Irish actress/performer in her debut lead role as Moll. She is in virtually every frame of the movie, and she carries the movie on her shoulders, and with might, I should add. Surely we haven't seen the last of her.
"Beast" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, to immediate critical acclaim. The movie opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended quite nicely, somewhat to my surprise. If you are in the mood for a quality mystery thriller/psychological drama with a ferocious female lead performance, you could do a lot worse than "Beast". I readily recommend you check it out, be it in the theater, non VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut film from writer-director Michael Pearce. Here he brings a plot-heavy mystery thriller/psychological drama in which we ask several questions: how did Moll end up living at her parents' house in her mid-20s, with her mom ruling the household with an iron fist? what to make of Pascal, and is he possibly connected with the disappeared girls? and what does the future hold between Moll and Pascal? The movie is set and filmed on the isle of Jersey, off the coast of northwestern France. I have never been there, and it looks to be much bigger than I had imagined it (Moll is a tourist bus tour guide, incidentally). Pearce works mostly with a cast of unknowns (the only one i recognized was Geraldine James as Moll's mom). And what to say about Jessie Buckley, the Irish actress/performer in her debut lead role as Moll. She is in virtually every frame of the movie, and she carries the movie on her shoulders, and with might, I should add. Surely we haven't seen the last of her.
"Beast" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, to immediate critical acclaim. The movie opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended quite nicely, somewhat to my surprise. If you are in the mood for a quality mystery thriller/psychological drama with a ferocious female lead performance, you could do a lot worse than "Beast". I readily recommend you check it out, be it in the theater, non VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.