Promising Young Woman (2020)
I have a soft spot for films that keep surprising me and go right when I expect them to go left, so I was totally into this. I was constantly confused about what kind of film I was actually watching. #MeToo revenge? Rom-com? Exploitation? Horror? The answer is, of course, all of the above, and while it isn’t exactly subtle with its only slightly exaggerated (or not at all) depiction of creepy men, it owns it. It is presented with enough humor, plenty of ambiguity where it is needed, and underlining of points when that is needed. I think it promotes reflection on what rape culture actually means, and it isn’t a single-minded “all men are creepy” type of thing, and it doesn’t give the ending one might hope for, but it isn’t about pleasing the revenge fantasy. Seeing the reviews here on Letterboxd, it is clearly a film that forms very divided opinions, and those are usually the most interesting to watch.
Rating: 4.5