Definitely the fanciest get-the-fuck-out-of-our-house metaphor I've seen so far

Not even 2 months ago I said that I wouldn't do The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021 because 50 movies was too many and a lot of the 2020 roster were decidedly average.  So (inevitably) here we are - but the list actually looks pretty promising and I've got all year to work through it, so I reckon I'll be OK (famous last words).

#50 : Promising Young Woman

Deathly dark satire of gender politics from writer-director Emerald Fennell, with Carey Mulligan at her ice-cold best as a scheming sociopath in a fearless unpicking of entitlement and victimhood.

So, the first thing we have to say here is that if you like well-written, well-acted, psychological dramas and you haven't heard anything about this film, then stop reading this now and go and watch it - the less you know about it the better.  For the rest of you, I'm not going to give away major spoilers but some of the stuff that I talk about (which has been mentioned in many reviews) gives some clues as to the general direction the film takes.

And in the opening scene, we meet Cassie (Carey Mulligan) off her face in a dubious bar where a nice man kindly offers to look after her.  Although, it turns out he's not such a nice man - but fortunately it turns out she's not so out of it either.  And the scene where she turns a drunk "what are you doing?" to a firm, sober "no, what ARE you doing?" is very well done indeed.  The next few scenes make it clear to us that Cassie has, shall we say, issues and then basically the rest of the film is her dealing with said issues in a variety of ways, with varying degrees of success.

And, about 50 minutes from the end of the film, we get to a point that it looks like we're going to have a happy ending - but obviously 50 minutes is just too long a time for this sort of film to stay happy.  However, you're not sure where the blindside is going to come from - and when it does, it's a doozie.  And from that point on, the shocks just keep on coming, right up until the end when it has a fantastic ending - but that's all I can really tell you!

The film as a whole is really well written - it has an interesting plot which has been well thought through both at the overall story level and the scenes within which help move things along.  It also poses some very interesting questions about responsibility, guilt, justice and retribution.  And it has some very snappy dialogue - crisp, extremely acerbic and, in some cases, exactly how I'd like to speak, but my brain works a little too slowly in its advanced years.  The script is also unusual for two separate uses of the c word with different meanings - neither of which feels too inappropriate.

As you'd expect for a film with Carey Mulligan in, it's very well acted (she's got some seriously good films on her CV) and she receives great support from everyone, with Bo Burnham (another insanely annoyingly talented person) and Laverne Cox (with some very snappy lines like "I'll stop asking him questions when he stops killing children") deserving special mention.  But Carey carries the film and she carries it very well - Cassie is a complex, multi-faceted character who is a gift for any actor and she takes full advantage of it.

Last year, we had quite a few debut features from female writer-directors and this continues that trend, with Emerald Fennell in the chair here.  And you'd have to say it's an extremely confident piece of work - you wouldn't guess it was her directorial debut.  She does have some experience of the industry though, having acted in various well known films (but you're more like to recognise her from her TV roles in Call The Midwife or as Camilla in The Crown) and written season two of Killing Eve (for which won an Emmy).  And she won an Oscar for this film's screenplay.  Oh, and she was 7 months pregnant when they shot it.  There are some pretty talented people involved throughout this film, aren't there?

So I've described this film as well-acted, well-written and well-shot - do you think I liked it?  Yes, I very much did - I think it's a great film and I'll be very surprised if there are 49 better films from last year on this list (let's see if I remember to note which is the next film on the list I like as much as this one).  All in all, this is an extremely enjoyable and thought-provoking film (and I wish I could have talked more about some of it!)

At the time of writing, the film is available to stream on Sky and to rent at all the other usual places - and it's well worth a watch in my opinion.

2020 - So, were they the best?
#49 - Impressive rather than enjoyable for me