Review of Compliance (2012) by Stephanie S — 25 Apr 2013

The film's disturbing plot is almost too absurd to believe, but as the bold, frame-filling titles at the beginning say, the film is based on a true story, and the filmmakers did their damndist to get as close to what really, exactly happened as they could.

The problem, more-so than the difficult subject matter, is that the film doesn't know if it should go full Luis Bunuel absurdest surrealism or stay true and realistic. In the end, it's oftentimes too realistic when it should be absurd, and the film doesn't quite recover from these moments.