This story tells of a renewed horror we are experiencing through a man named Reid who decides to go on a business trip. That journey began, where instead of a bag full of clothes taking it with him, Reed had a toothbrush and several killers. Maybe a killing would be good enough for Reid to rid himself of his malicious motives and continue to be a good husband and father. In spite of all this, Reid gets more than he bargains with Jackie, that girl who is completely changing things in the hotel.
Pesce deploys a potent arsenal of stylistic tools - urban landscape miniatures, plushly disquieting Lynchian interiors, flashbacks, creature effects, and florid gore - to tell the story of Reed.
Darkly funny, but still unapologetically grim, this plays very much like a modern version of Takashi Miike's iconic 1999 film Audition, only with a lot less of a brutal finale.
Piercing is an unsuccessful provocation, and I didn't get anything out of it beyond a few wispy ideas about how we may never really understand what we want from each other.
The dream-team pairing of Abbott and Wasikowska, two of the most interesting, subtle and risk-loving performers of their generation, is a huge compensation.
