Carey Mulligan stars in this revenge story that has been getting her a crap ton of Oscar buzz for Best Actress… in case you couldn’t tell by the title… words
Hey Everyone! I’m still working on my 2020 catch-up run with the subject of today’s review in Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. Alright, listen up new readers, I’ve got one thing to tell you about how I do movie summaries here in these parts and it is this: NOPE! What’s that, you were expecting something more dramatic than that?! Nopaity nope nope NOPE reader! Here’s a link for the film’s IMDb page and well, let’s get right to it: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9620292/
So yeah, as I already alluded to, as someone who constantly follow all sorts of movie things, I have literally been hearing about this movie for a full year! It premiered at Sundance, was supposed to release in April of last year, the pandemic pushed it to back to this past Christmas, and I just saw it in mid-to-late January. All the while, I kept hearing about it, so when I realized I might have the time to actually go see it in theaters (which actually felt safe on top of just being in a movie theater again… like, yayzers!), I jumped at the chance. And welp, all of that good buzz could not have felt more warranted because I thought Promising Young Woman is an absolutely terrific film… PERIOD! (With an exclamation mark?!?! …grammar is weird sometimes)
Honestly, in case wasn’t obvious from up top, the part that I was really looking forward about seeing this would be Carey Mulligan’s performance and yeah, she was nothing but exceptional all the way through! To say that she gets really deep into the role of Cassie is like saying I write a lot at points: it’s very obvious to anyone who would know.
Alright, in all seriousness, I absolutely loved how much Carey Mulligan completely embraced every aspect of Cassie’s psyche in this film. I hate to say it because it’s so cliched, but you really do forget that this is an actress acting for a fictional story here. From the way she postures herself knowing how other people are going to view her, the tone in which she conveys every single line of dialogue (whether in a deceitful or earnest way), all the way down to the subtleties in her facial movements and performance period. It’s much of a lived-in performance in the role of Cassie as it is a complete powerhouse performance that demonstrates the lengths Carey Mulligan went into playing this character.
Even though the cast as a whole is still incredibly strong as well (with some people who I didn’t expect to see delivering some stellar performances), this is absolutely Mulligan’s movie and she owns it to the *eleventh* degree (that’s right, ELEVENTH!). Although my heart still leans toward Sidney Flanigan from Never Rarely Sometimes Always (which I’ve also reviewed for this blog… shameless plugs for the win!) as my favorite performance of 2020 and the one I would root for if she gets an Oscar nomination (fingers crossed). Still, I will certainly not be complaining *when* Carey Mulligan gets the nomination for Best Actress, nor would if she ended up winning the award as well!
So, that was a whole boatload of praise on Carey Mulligan’s performance. But somebody needs to call Captain Brody from Jaws because we’re gonna need a bigger boat for all of the awesome things in this movie. Specifically, Emerald Fennell’s direction, in her feature directorial debut no less, was absolutely incredible! I mean just… DAMN!!! The choices she made in telling this story were oh so impressive, which makes sense from how you can tell she knew exactly she wanted to do here. She always knew exactly where to put the camera (with the help of her DP of course), exactly how to brew the tension or chemistry between every single actor (especially from how many people Mulligan acts against in the film), and exactly how to make her visuals embody the raw emotions held deep within. (Holy Exactness Batman!)
Although it doesn’t seem like as much a guarantee as Carey Mulligan’s performance, I really hope that Emerald Fennell gets that directing nomination because god damn she deserves it! Then again, everyone on everything with this film was on their complete A-game as you can just the love poured into it. To go back to Fennell for a sec (I know, it’s been so long since I’ve mentioned her, right?!), her screenplay was also outstanding at creating the base story and keeping it structured in a way that constantly defies your expectations. The editing from Frédéric Thoraval could not have felt more sharp (seriously, this movie is almost two hours and it flies by like it’s 90 minutes and in a good way!). Benjamin Kracun’s cinematography was absolutely gorgeous as it certainly help to make some images so striking that I will remember them for a long time. The score was chilling, while also acting perfectly in-tune to all of the emotions rushing through your and Cassie’s head (there’s one arrangement of a pop song in there that without saying what it was, led to an unexpectedly brilliant match-up to the visuals).
And oh yeah, did I mention that the story is really REALLY excellentyet?! Oh wait, I’ ve mentioned but not gone into detail… well, crapper! Anyway, it’s just a truly special story from how it is completely honest, raw, emotionally realized, and a cleverly commentarial look at how toxic masculinity can ruin someone’s life (don’t even get me started on how much I hate men… trust me, I SHOULD KNOW! ;)). Really, there’s only thing that takes this movie down from the heights on all-time masterpiece that I think it’s so close to being. At several moments in the movie, it feels like brought in Captain Obvious to write some of the exposition scenes because the dialogue on those moments can feel way too on the nose. It’s still good dialogue, but when it’s that noticeable and telly (Wait, telly’s not a real word?! Inconceivable!), it definitely takes away from those moments.
Still, Promising Young Woman is a film that I cannot help but absolutely adore to no end! If anyone reading this has the chance to see it either in theaters (as safely as possible of course) or on VOD, then I cannot recommend this movie enough for being one of 2020’s best in cinema!!!
Rating: 9.5/10, it’s a revenge story that will stick with you, and I loved it!!!
Phew! Another day, another movie down on what I’ve dubbed my “last-year catching up run” of movies for 2020. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll see anywhere near as much as I did for 2019 without theaters both from them being closed and just from how having AMC A-List gave me the opportuinity to see movies I wouldn’t normally see otherwise… someday. Well, I’m still gonna’ watch as much as I can, so here’s hoping that goes well! Hell, chances are seeming likely in my head at the moment of doing a review on Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland once that drops, so be sure to look forward to if/whenever that happens.
With all that mind, have you any of you seen Promising Young Woman? Or if you haven’t then are you looking forward to it, and seeing as how I mentioned it earlier, do you have a favorite acting performance from last year?! Please feel free to let me know in the comments below. And as always, I think you should all know who I am at this point…
I’m Alex, Your Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd!!!
Spinning the Cineweb 