Saturday 15 April 2017

Review: Raw

A lot has been said about this film since its premiere at last years Cannes Film Festival.

While the graphic content has got people talking, everyone seems to be in agreement that this film deserves high praise.

After seeing the trailers, I was definitely intrigued by the visuals, and the concept.
It looked as if I was going to have a similar experience to when I saw 'The Neon Demon', a film that I am still obsessing over today.

From quite early on, you are stuck in to some pretty unsettling imagery. While some of it reminded me of my days at University, particularly in my first year, other content was something that I do not see that often on the big screen.

There are big stand-outs in the performances. I have to first to go to the lead played by Garance Marillier. Her performance felt very innocent and powerful. Her character has quite a transformation , and Marillier makes completely believable.
Her relationship with Ella Rumpf is certainly the films strongest aspect. The more extreme the film gets, the stronger Marillier and Rumpf are together on-screen.
Also, Rabah Nait Oufella is a strong support and has many great moments with Marillier.

I have to say, that director and writer Julia Ducournau and her team has done a great job. When you see that this is her directorial and writing debut, this makes the film and even more impressive achievement.
The entire structure of the film is very well executed and as mentioned before the characters are very well written and developed. The cinematography is very well shot in its contemporary moments, while also having some fantastic long-tracking shots and haunting intimate moments. There are some nice uses of music and the score is haunting when it needs to be. There is a strange amount of humor that manages to work, even on a satirical level.

The biggest aspect that people will content is the graphic content. I cannot deny that there is some gross-out imagery. But it is certainly not gratuitous, and it manages to have some limits into how far they go. It all meant something, and the director gave it a certain style that made it highly entertaining to watch. This has a very smart execution in its themes. There is almost a fairy-tale quality to it.

It is definitely a tough watch. I was gritting my teeth for a fair amount of it. But the messages this film gave, made the film more than just gory imagery. Also, the characters were highly engaging and I was interested to see how they would end up. I will be excited to see what the director does next. She could very well be the next David Cronenberg.

Rating: 8/10

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