"Strange Darling" - An interesting look at perspective and the artists intent.

Josh
Dec 23, 2024
5 min read

JT Mollner (2024)

This review was written entirely in Google Docs

This review will spoil the plot of this film straight away. And it’s a film that would highly recommend you avoid anything about this movie and just watch it. Overall, I would recommend this movie.

What I love about art is the discussion around the different emotional responses from everyone seeing the same thing. No other movie from this year had me seeking out other people's opinions more than Strange Darling. From director JT Mollner, this simple cat-and-mouse film feels like something that could’ve fallen flat regarding the subject matter. The movie is subtitled in the credits as a “Thriller told in 6 chapters” and we start right in the middle. At first, I wasn’t falling for this, after the first two chapters it felt like it was 30 years too late Pulp Fiction (1994) or Reservoir Dogs (1992) clone. It's like that 90’s film bro taking inspiration from everything he thought was cool but not realising the non-linear method's impact on the story. Even having an opening title crawl similar to that of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) explaining we’re about to watch the final events of a serial killer, with a hit of Fargo's (1996) "true story". Yet, I judged this film a little too early because once we’re placed in the middle chapter and finally see the inciting incident, I appreciated the method of storytelling. What I don’t appreciate is flexing that the movie was shot in 35mm.

As mentioned, spoilers. Check this movie out blind.

What Strange Darling does so well is play on the preconceptions of the audience, not only of movies similar to this genre but day-to-day life. As previously mentioned, we’re placed in the middle of the conflict watching Kyle Gallner, credited as The Demon, in hot pursuit of The Lady, played by Willa Fitzgerald. While snorting handfuls of cocaine and firing shots towards her car, Lady runs into the woods taking refuge in a hippie couple's house (Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr.). And up front, we can see the beautiful cinematography by actor Giovanni Ribisi out of all people. Ribisi's use of highly contrasting colours, sometimes even flushing the scene full of one colour, and composition gives the film a late 70's vibe that’s emphasised by the 35mm (don’t think I’ve mentioned but this was shot on 35mm?) As The Demon goes from room to room searching for Lady, we hard cut to the first chapter where we see their first interaction.

Beginning with a one-night stand, Lady expresses the risk women take in wanting casual “fun”, needing to ask if Demon is a serial killer. And from our preconception of what we’ve seen in earlier scenes, we feel the air go thick as he says “No”. The scene is beautifully bathed in blue from a sleazy neon hotel sign with Willa Fitzgerald leading this scene. And that energy carries into the hotel where we see them act in BDSM and ends with disappointment for the Lady. As the tension builds the Demon becomes more aggressive and forceful, breaking down the Lady into tears, yet it’s all part of the game. And this is another example of how captivating Fitzgerald's and Gallner's chemistry is. They’re able to turn it on and off with this layered performance, having to pretend they’re someone they’re not. Or act a certain way with the knowledge that their character is going to be portrayed in a certain light during the earlier middle chapters of the story. Visually this scene has references to Brian De Palma films with split diopter lenses or more intense lighting reminding me of Carrie. And like a Brian De Palma movie, it turns into classy pulp where the Lady is revealed to be the aforementioned serial killer, known as the Electric Lady. Tricking the Demon into overdosing on ketamine, he escapes with the power of cocaine to then open where the film began.

Apart from the disgusting breakfast made by the hippies. Not kidding, probably one of the grossest things I’ve seen all year and that’s topping everything in the Terrifier 3. The ending is one of the more contentious parts of the film. The Demon turns out to be a cop, and with Lady apprehended he calls in backup, yet he’s taken care of before they arrive. A male and female cop arrive and this is where I think the scene could’ve been handled a little better. Lady begins to act as if she’s been sexually assaulted, to which the female officer rushes to attend and help immediately. Opposing her is the male who's expressing that they need to investigate what has happened. Who is the victim and who is the assailant? And the arguments in reviews call out that JT is saying “Don’t believe in women” when it comes to these horrific events. This segment is the only part where I can lean towards that argument. Maybe if the cop opposing was a woman as well it may have come off as less self-inserty for people who see the movie like that. Yet, I didn’t see this message in the movie but more talking about the importance of context and letting go of our preconceptions of the world around us. I don’t think JT was setting out to make all women as manipulative but looks at how a woman serial killer would use her gender to get the upper hand on people. She uses the "frightened helpless woman act" on numerous people only to quickly turn on them, no matter their gender.

The epilogue was the icing on the cake. When asked why she does what she does, Lady simply says “I see Devils.” As throughout we’ve seen quickly flashes on a demonic face over the males that seems to trigger her to murder them. We don’t get a massive back story on why she kills, it’s simple and enough that we can piece together what may have happened to her in the past. Yet when she flees the scene and gets picked up by another woman. Yet looking into the side mirror of the car she looks horrifically at her reflection. Like she sees the demon within herself. As it looks like she’s about to pull a gun on herself, her saviour shoots in self-defence. And in an unbroken shot, we watch Lady slowly die as the colour fades from the film.

Having seen numerous films with a similar premise, you develop a roadmap in your head on where the film will go. The tropes start to rear their head and the beats hit at the right point and the roadmap becomes more and more clear. Your preconceptions of the world add a meta quality to the story. Which I believe causes the divide between the strongly positive and strongly negative. We all have views on the world that influence how we will view media and amplify our feelings towards what the artist's intent is. If you agree or disagree with the message that the artist or someone else is interpreting, that's the joy of art. And depending on your views, the film has enough that it can stand up as a fun thriller. The tension and intrigue are elevated by the, although can be seen as pretentious, non-linear storytelling. Performances are layered and fantastic, with the highlight being Willa Fitzgerald. This year's sleeper hit is worth the watch. Next, just don't wank yourself off by calling out the filming method.