In this tale of murderous female obsession—which loosely transposes Single White Female to the L.A. B-movie trash-culture milieu—a pair of second-tier actress pals decide to take a break from the thankless patriarchal industry rat race by traveling to Big Sur to reevaluate their dubious career directions. Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald) is a soft-spoken attractive blond with something resembling a career as a straight-to-DVD horror scream queen, while her angst-ridden friend, Anna (Mackenzie Davis), aspires to bigger and better projects but has had little success. Although the North Cal trip was meant to rejuvenate their precarious friendship, the seclusion ends up doing a number on Anna's head. Displaying signs of mental instability, Anna's more intimate contact with Beth only ramps up her jealousy, which eventually leads to a lot of passive-aggressive head games and worse. Director Sophia Takal serves up moments of David Lynch-ian creepiness and hyper-real social unease, although weak dialogue sometimes undercuts the film's visual merits. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an interview with director Sophia Takal (23 min.). Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (M. Sandlin)
Always Shine
Oscilloscope, 85 min., not rated, DVD: $34.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, Mar. 7 Volume 32, Issue 3
Always Shine
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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