I find that when I watch a good movie, part of it always stays with me. Something about the world that it created, the characters it showed me, the story; something about it lingers around in mind, and just doesn’t want to let go. This is exactly what happened with Fresh, and for damn good reason, because this movie was one hell of a surprise.
SYNOPSIS: The horrors of modern dating are seen through the eyes of a young woman who is battling to survive her new boyfriend's unusual appetites.
There’s nothing I love more than when movies use their genre in a creative and unique way to commentate on things happening in our real world. Whether that be through cultural landslide movies like Get Out that deal with racial opression cleverly mixed with horror, or a murder-mystery like Knives Out that speaks on immigration in the U.S.; Genre isn’t a set of rules, it’s a toolbox, and Fresh uses the genre of horror to speak on one of the most terrifying things of all in modern society: MEN.
The way this movie so cleverly navigates the predatory role that men play in our society is so subtle and so well done that it’s almost invisible. The way that women are portrayed in this movie through different perspectives is so well-crafted and effective in the story, and without giving away too much (because I didn’t even see a trailer for this) the most “meaty” part of the story and the symbolism that serves is just so off the charts original, it blew my mind (yeah ok, that was a bit rough, but watch the movie and then try and disagree with me).
Mimi Cave brings so much to the table as a first-time feature director, her voice shines through so well in this movie in so many ways. Through the weird and cleaustrophobic camerawork, or the insanely eclectic soundtrack; her fingerprints are all over this thing, and in the best way possible. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
Daisy Edgar-Jones is phenomenal in this movie, and she’s asked to do quite a lot. She holds the screen so well, and I felt for her character so much based solely off of her amazing performance. Sebastian Stan is having a lot of fun with his character here, and it exudes off of him when he’s on screen. Jones’ chemistry with Stan is so natural, and that’s a big part of what makes their dynamic so captivating throughout the runtime of this movie.
This movie is not afraid to get violent. Some of the things they show genuinely shocked me, and the portrayal of certain parts of things was unabashed and free in the strangest way possible. It’s also a very funny movie surprisingly, and when that shined through it really worked.
The third act of this movie is fucking crazy. The anxiety I felt was off the charts, I was tense for the entire last thirty minutes of this thing. It was all directed super well, and in a way that felt very unconventional for what it was trying to do. We’ve seen the whole “final girl” scenario before, but it just worked so well here, - and for lack of a better word - felt, well, fresh. This movie also endorses the art of camp in a way that was almost cute. The final shot, as well of the credits rolling to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Heads Will Roll” was exactly what I signed up for when I watched this movie, and it all just felt very deserved.
This movie loses just a tad bit of steam in the second act. There are some things that occur that are all aprt of a natural progression of events, and the back and forth of that, coupled with the minimal interactions between Jones and Stan made it drag just slightly, but it picked back up exponentially as it went on.
This really was a treat to watch. Mimi Cave is a promising voice, and I’m excited to see her future films. Every now and then I watch a movie that really takes me by surprise, and I felt very satisfied by this film’s originality, and it’s new takes on the more familiar tropes of its genre. MORE MOVIES LIKE THIS PLEASE.
Also I have a watchlist where I describe in brief sentences why the movies that are on my watchlist are there, here’s what I said for Fresh:
“Saw a clip of Daisy and Sebastian dancing, that was the hottest thing ever, I think I might die”.
8/10
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