Strange Darling Review

I saw Strange Darling, and here are my thoughts…

This is one of those movies that is best enjoyed if you go with as little information as possible, so while I won’t go into a lot of detail in this review, I will give you my spoiler-free thoughts… we’ll except for the first two minutes, but it’s nothing plot-related.

This movie is best described as if Quentin Tarantino makes an homage to 70s revenge movies for “Neon” Productions… 

So, when my first starts, text comes on the screen that says “This film a shot entirely on 35 mm”, and I’m like… OK. Not sure why you wanted to clear that but go ahead.

There’s an interesting nod to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with opening text explaining how this is based on a true story when in reality… It’s not, which again, is a strange choice, but you’re going for an aesthetic with a send-up to 70s movies so I get what you’re going for, it’s a nice mood setter/homage.

Then the title eventually comes up and says “Strange Darling, a story told in 6 parts”… and it starts with part 3. Now for me personally, whenever we get a movie told in parts like a book, and we start non-chronologically… This movie has the potential of going off the rails and becoming pretentious… Luckily, this movie doesn’t and actually pulls off this storytelling device quite well, like there’s a reason for it.

This film has a slick and colorful vibe, with Cinematography by Giovanni Ribisi (yes, the actor who was the villain in Ted). I haven’t heard many actors going from acting to Cinematography, directing for sure, but Giovanni is quite talented at it, the movie looks great and definitely has a cool style.

I really enjoyed the soundtrack, very relaxed and almost melancholy, folk rock music.

The big scene-stealer of this movie is Willa Fitzgerald, she really knocks it out of the park with her acting, and I hope this role gets her more in the future because she really gave the part her all.

Kyle Gallner is fantastic also, he’s really found his stride as this character actor, who plays very intense but down-to-earth characters, kind of like a new John Hawkes.

Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. pop up in this and they’re cute, although I will say one slight spoiler… their scene involves cooking some food, which both look delicious and also made me think they’re going to die soon from cholesterol lol

This is a very straightforward movie, not in a bad way, it being simple and direct makes it very enjoyable, easy to digest, and adds to the tone the movie trying to set. The dialogue is very plain and simple, but you can tell it’s a deliberate choice.

Big props for having fun, twists and turns, definitely keep you on your toes about how it’s all gonna play out.

The director does fun camera tricks and the script has nice little dark moments of humor.

An actor shows up towards the end who is nice to see. It’s nobody like Big, but if you’re a fan of his work in a previous role, it’s nice to see him pop up.

Just as a heads up, the movie is a tad violent, but never to an excessive amount, it very much sticks within  “for story sake” parameters.

The film just has the  “The Lord of Rings: Return of the King” problem of having a few different endings, it feels like the movie is about to wrap up, but then it just keeps going, and the final ending just goes on for quite a bit… again it feels like a deliberate artistic choice, but even still, it feels like a bit prolonged. Even the credits do to a certain extent, almost to the point that it feels like we had to meet a certain runtime, and their stretching things. But nothing that takes away from the movie too much.

Overall, Strange Darling is a fun time with a lot of style, interesting twists, and great performances. Definitely a fun time at the movies. If you’re looking for something interesting to watch, I’ll give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️