M.F.A.

Director Natalia Leite's M.F.A. exists in the odd uncomfortable space between exploitation and social issue film. California art school student Noelle (Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint) undergoes a personal transformation when Luke (Peter Vack)—a cocky classmate she has a crush on—sexually assaults her. At first she slinks away in defeat, but then decides to confront him, and during an ensuing argument she accidentally pushes him off a balcony to his death. A detective (Clifton Collins Jr.) comes sniffing around, but doesn't have the evidence to charge her with a crime. Noelle pours her frustrations into newly invigorated paintings that impress her critical colleagues, and she also joins a rape support group that features some well-meaning if also tragically misinformed women. Noelle evolves into an angel of vengeance, killing campus rapists who've gotten away with their crimes, starting with three frat brothers she dispatches with cool precision. But while she empathizes with fellow rape victims, such as her neighbor Skye (producer and co-writer Leah McKendrick), her untroubled conscience suggests serious sociopathic tendencies. The way that Leite utilizes unusual camera angles and a whisper-saturated soundtrack lends her project an art house veneer, but M.F.A. eventually hews closer to grindhouse fare, while never shying away from a very real problem on many college campuses: rapists protected by administrators who will do anything to avoid negative publicity and disgruntled donors. Think of this as the feature-film answer to Kirby Dick's deeply disturbing 2015 documentary about campus rape, The Hunting Ground (VL-9/15). Recommended. (K. Fennessy)