I saw Piercing back when it premiered at Fantastic Fest last fall. Originally set to be released in December 2018, it was pushed back to a February 2019 release, which was a smart move, considering the always-bloated release schedule of December, filled with last minute-Oscar contenders, as well as a slew of family-friendly films to watch around Christmas seeing release. This is one film that will quietly slip under the radar, and would have even more so fell off had it stayed at its December release date. Which is a shame, as this is a solid entry into the horror genre, even if it’s far from perfect.
A pitch black mix of horror and comedy, the film follows a married man named Reed (played by Christopher Abbott) who tells his wife he’s away on business, only to check into a hotel and call an escort service. The escort, Jackie (played by Mia Wasikowska), arrives and two engage in violent, hyper-sexual fetishes, and it seems like there was even an arrangement for Reed to kill Jackie. Or so it seems, as events take a sudden turn and the film ends up being a very strange battle of wits between Reed and Jackie.
This is a film that essentially has a lot of nerve to be made. With today’s political climate, the film has a very lingering sense of moral ambiguity going on throughout the entire runtime, essentially almost up to the very end. This is mainly due to how little we know the main characters. We’re only given so much information about their backstories and when they meet, we’re never truly certain as to what sort of services they agreed to, as we never hear the full details of their arrangement. So when the two eventually start to duke it out, it makes for a great sense of mystery. What did the two originally agree to? Did someone have a change of heart? Did one misinterpret the other’s intentions?
You’ll find yourself going back and forth as to who you’re rooting for. Reed seems like a very cold, calculated man, channeling the likes of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. And Jackie is even stranger than he is, with her every movement being extremely unpredictable. Sometimes she’ll say one thing in one scene, then totally contradict her previous behavior in the very next scene. Both can be so off-the-wall that one minute you’ll find yourself rooting for Reed, and then the next for Jackie. Again, you never know who truly is the protagonist, if there even really is one, as you have no clue what they arranged to begin with, or what either is truly thinking. Admittedly, this can at times be a bit frustrating, as you want everyone’s intentions to be made clear, especially as there are a fair amount of moments that seem like their missteps logically. However, for the most part, this all adds a great sense of engaging mystery throughout the film, especially as it leads you to question the film’s overall morality, as it may be leading you to root for someone who truly may just be trying to kill an unsuspecting victim.
Normally, when a film has characters who are as ambiguous as Piercing is, it is usually a bad sign, as such characters are usually overall-poorly written, and we never get a sense of satisfaction by the end of the film. However, Piercing’s injection of comedy makes for an effective distraction from that element. While the characters' questionable logic can lead to a very bewildered audiences at times, it’s actually played for laughs, for the most part. Seeing Reed’s reactions to Jackie’s off-kilter behavior is especially fun to watch, as it serves as a mirror image of the audience's own confusion. The film in a way subtly acknowledges how bizarre it can be, and looks to have some fun with that fact. It almost plays like a small-scale version of the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading, another movie involving crimes going horribly wrong to humorous effect.
Despite the overall strange nature of both main characters, the film injects a sense of reality by showing us how the characters are far from perfect. There are moments of high intensity that end up getting diffused by a plan suddenly going wrong, or a character stumbling over themselves in the middle of a seemingly dramatic act. Reed, in particular, has many of these moments. While the character has elements of Patrick Bateman and other vicious serial killers in movies, he's far from being as effective as those he's inspired by. He has a plan, but when that plan goes wrong, he has a difficult time coming up with a backup plan to get things back on track. Some of the film's biggest laughs are Reed trying to recover from the bizarre events of the previous scene.
Both Abbott and Wasikowska are an absolute blast to watch, as their characters duke it out. Wasikowska in particular, gives us easily one of her best performances to date. The actress has an extensive background as it is in gothic dramas and strange horror films, so she's already in her element with this sort of material. However, for the first time, she's truly allowed to have some fun. Whereas previous efforts of hers like Crimson Peak and Jane Eyre take themselves abundantly seriously, here she’s allowed to take the melodramatic nature of characters in previous efforts and heighten them to new extremes. She gets to be just as strange as she was in her previous gothic films, but this time play it up for plenty of humorous moments, mostly to success.
The film is also very stylish in nature, being the unique mix of a seedy 70’s B-movie, injected with the quiet, arthouse style of brutal foreign horror flicks. It's shot incredibly well, and it has the feel like we’re transported to a totally different time period. There’s also a slow burn element to it, with slower-moving moments of creepiness building up to some brutal, gorier moments. Sometimes, though, the slow burn can be a bit to the film’s disadvantage. While, the film can be effectively creepy for the most part, there are times where the film lingers on a particular scene for a bit longer than it needs to, and it’ll feel at times like the film goes on for a bit without doing anything either funny or particularly scary. Despite the 80 minute runtime, there are times where it feels a bit longer. At the very least, when the film gets back on track, the payoff is at least worth the wait.
Piercing is definitely not a movie for everyone, and seems like its made more for diehard horror fans. With its moral ambiguity and overall strange nature, due to its mysteriously-written leads, some may find it a bit too off-putting for their tastes. However, for those with a quirkier sense of humor and penchant for strange horror films, this can actually be quite a good time. With plenty of awkward laughs, moments of high intensity, and an absolutely stellar turn by Mia Wasikowska, this is a fun little horror comedy that will be sure to please some of the more devoted fans of the genre, even if it doesn't always find its footing.
Comments