Queen of Earth

Filmmaker Alex Ross Perry's Queen of Earth stars Elisabeth Moss as Catherine, a young woman reeling not only from the sudden death of her father but also from the emotional fallout of a bad breakup. Catherine takes refuge in the comfort of her best friend, Virginia (Katherine Waterston), a trust-fund baby spending her days on perpetual vacation in her family's upscale vacation cabin in the woods. The pair are ostensibly there for each other, yet are so self-involved they can barely break out of their own little bubbles. Somewhat spoiled and not very likable, these privileged women are not softened by either the filmmaker or the actresses. Moss's Catherine is vulnerable and in pain, tangled in a torrent of contradictory emotions—anger, betrayal, love, hate—but also narcissistic and lacking any ability to empathize, while Waterston is distant and wary as Virginia, who is still angry at Catherine's neglect of her own troubles during a previous getaway. It's like an American indie reworking of Hollywood high melodrama—initial pettiness and sniping growing into a passive-aggressive war between bitchy frenemies in close quarters—but instead of the theatrical thrill of a showboating spectacle of divas dueling with sophisticated wit and sneering delivery, the audience witnesses something uncomfortably intimate and personal. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Alex Ross Perry and star Elisabeth Moss, a behind-the-scenes featurette (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a solid character study.] (S. Axmaker)