Category: Film reviews

The debut film from Rose Glass (released in cinemas on October 9) combines religion and horror together to create a gripping & utterly toe curling piece of cinema and the result is extraordinary.

The film, set in a derelict looking Scarborough, follows Maud (Morfydd Clark) a meek but stern end of life care nurse who has been deployed to look after the terminally ill former dancer Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) who is trying to make the most of life despite being confined to a hospice. Maud has seemingly become the target of religious forces, talking regularly to God who from time to time, snarls back at her in her native Welsh. Flashbacks to the unfortunate mistake that brought forth Maud’s religious awakening haunt her, grim shots of a body with its hair soaked in blood and a coackroach crawling across the ceiling. Her name, appears to have been different back then, having changed it in an attempt to mould herself into the likeness of the German queen St Maud, who dedicated her life to the ill and dying and eventually became the guardian of misbehaving children.

Maud appears desperate to rid herself of past habits, that Glass discreetly tries to show to her audience in the hope that we will connect the dots. Maud puts herself through frankly the grimmest of torments; kneeling on broken peanut shells whilst she prays and placing upright nails in her shoes. She is connected with God in the most intimate and personal way possible and it is terrifying.

Maud is convinced that it is her job to save Amanda’s soil before she does eventually pass away. This proves to be the film’s most prominent strength, despite not being the scariest film ever to be made, Glass uses religion as a powerful tool to piece together the story of a young woman’s descent into madness. Instead, Clark carries the horror theme of the film through her portrayal of Maud. She portrays Maud’s obsessions in a way that effortlessly slides between both sympathy disgust from the audience. From the first hint at Maud’s eventful past, we are led on a journey that becomes increasingly hostile and utterly suffocating right up until the last second Maud is on screen. The film concludes with a series of images that are likely to stick in the mind for a king time.

Saint Maud is a beautifully crafted piece, everything about it screams that Rose Glass is one to watch in the world of new filmmakers. Moryfdd Clark proves throughout that she is a force to be reckoned with and one of the country’s most talented actors.

Step aside Never Rarely Sometimes Always, the sombre story of a 17 year old who travels across the US to get an abortion has been remodelled into a vivaciously comedic coming-of-age story.

Veronica (Hayley Lu Richardson) is a prim and proper overachiever who has every aspect of her life planned out to the millisecond, that is until she finds out she is pregnant in her Missouri high school bathroom and the only person in the room is her ex best friend, badass punk Bailey Butler (Barbie Ferreira). Hoping to keep her pregnancy a secret from both her religious family and peers alike, the girls embark on a 2000 mile round trip to Alberqueue, New Mexico AKA the nearest state that will allow a young person to receive an abortion without parental consent.
What follows, is an exciting, often chaotic adventure that sees the girl’s reacquaint with one another. There are traces of Olivia Wilde’s hit high school comedy Booksmart throughout Unpregnant but throughout it carries its own witty charm. The girls’ road trip is by no means boring, there are so many twists and turns that become stranger and wackier as the film goes on. The subplot – perhaps my favourite bit in this entire movie involves a couple of oddly sweet prolifers (Sugar Lyn Beard and Breckin Meyer) whose characters are so over the top that they’re believable. The storyline involving them also involves a direct homage to the iconic car chase in ‘Thelma & Louise’.

Together, the two young women represent what it is like to be a young feminist who move with lucidity even when they’re running from a camper van with a four-foot cutout of a toddler pasted to the front bumper. The girls’ belt out the words to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone’ and it’s a feel good moment everyone can enjoy no matter what.

The film occasionally puts a hold on the laughing and joking to pause and allow the audience to take in a few minutes of practical information, including a step-by-step breakdown of what Veronica can expect if/when the twosome reach Albuquerque: “I’ll walk you through the whole process,” says a nurse, as a gentle, noodling song slides into the score and the camera transitions from soft focus shots of syringes to a POV shot of an anaesthesiologists’ mask that makes the whole world go calm and blurry. Unpregnant is a film that advocates loudest for allowing young women the space to make their own choices — and that they have friends, long-time or newfound, willing to help when they stumble. The film is available to stream on HBO Max now