Review of Ladyworld (2019) by Joopson — 17 Jun 2022

Flawed; ultimately it seems like the writer thought "Lord of the Flies, but with girls", and didn't bother to iron out the details to make sure everything holds up. They also toned down the stakes and timeline significantly, which left me wondering what exactly was happening at times: were the graphic truths being hidden from the viewer, or did we see the whole truth?

Aesthetically though, it's great, and the glimpses of character are strong and make for an enjoyable watching experience.

Some carryovers from Lord of the Flies don't fly, though; the conch becomes a chandelier crystal, but never holds the totemic power or plot significance of the conch— Dolly has much of Piggy in her, but not the more significant and helpful parts— the beast becomes the man, but again never feels like much, except as a symbol. And the man is never adequately explained, and neither is the disappearance early in the movie.

When you get right down to it, it kind of feels like a beautifully shot student film after the director read Lord of the Flies for the first time. But for all that, it was still pretty ok. And I did like the inversion, turning the savagery of boys into the savagery of girls, which is based around social coercion, ill-conceived conceptions of worth, and sometimes shocking displays of callous cruelty. The makeup replacing the war paint was a great choice.