Review of Beast (2018) by Alan W — 03 Jun 2018

This Jersey set drama is half inter-class romance and half psycho thriller and while there are strong performances by Jessie Buckley as a troubled young woman called Mol and Geraldine James as her intimidating mother; I personally find the deliberate pacing too slow for my liking.

Johnny Flynn, reminding me of a poor man's Rhys Ifan, plays Mol's forbidden love interest with a blankness that is more vacuous than sinister, and unfortunately, I have little emotional engagement to their romance.

While the serial killer subplot provides an underlying sense of menace and dread, which lends itself to a powerful ending, I never feel too anxious or concern about the characters' well-being. This is a film which holds its cards close to its chest, and keeps it that way until the bitter enigmatic end.

Since what I find pretentious others may find uncompromising artistry therein, I understand the love and passion they may have for this film, but sadly for me, this just didn't quite work, even though I will admit that writer-director, Michael Pearce has put together an imaginative and moody piece that would serve his film career well.