Throughout September I will be raiding my collection of favourite movies to review one a day, with a focus on overlooked and underappreciated films.
Where to find it: Netflix
Length: 92 minutes
Synopsis: Anti-social young woman makes a friend and they plan a murder
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: the acting, the ending, the best depiction of antisocial personality disorder in film
What I don’t like about it: grim and slow
Review:
Amanda (the wonderful Olivia Cooke) is a teenage loner who doesn’t feel emotions. Her mother pays another young woman, Lily (the brilliant Anya Taylor-Joy), to socialise with Amanda under the guise of tutoring sessions. Lily is abused by her stepfather and Amanda, who has experience killing a horse, has a suggestion how they can deal with that. Together they rope in drug dealer Tim (the late, magnificent Anton Yelchin) to get rid of him.
The ending of this one really distinguishes it as, far and away, the best thriller I’ve ever seen featuring a ‘psychopath’ – and there are so many. It raises many questions about empathy and feeling and lying to oneself, becoming the quintessential film on ASPD, in my opinion.
Content notes (may contain spoilers): blood, gun, drugs, implied abuse, haunting end, personality disorder