Rare Beasts

I enjoyed the film, though definitely had overlaps with Billie Piper's series I Hate Suzie (which I must say I preferred). At times I couldn't work out if I was supposed to be rooting for her character and love interest to be together, and I found Pete's character rather confusing. But on the whole enjoyable and inventive, really intrigued to see what Billie comes up with next.

"I Hate Suzie" Draft 1 - before (scribe, executive producer, director & star) Billie Piper's co-creator & writer of the renowned HBO Max series (who previously worked with her on "Secret Diary of a Call Girl") Lucy Prebble came along to iron out the creases; "Rare Beasts" generally has the exact same premise ('Mandy' - a less refined & distinguished iteration of the later protagonist - is a mother who's emotionally disconnected from life, struggling to cope within the stifling confines of a dysfunctional family unit which frustratingly lacks the reassuring support she needs to cope & navigating the minefield that is parenthood & adulthood alone - exacerbated by the pressures unfairly placed on her, due to her gender - feels increasingly isolated & nihilistic whilst she simultaneously tries to prevent that unpalatable cynicism from polluting her child's outlook on life) so has a lot of similar stuff to say as a satirical social commentary (regarding the disenfranchisement many obviously feel with modern day society, disproportionately affecting women trying to make something of themselves alongside their male counterparts in an oppressive systematic structure - for instance, the patriarchy - & how unprocessed trauma created by this disparity of treatment can manifest itself within our behaviours & inadvertently be inherited from one generation to the next) but the film (despite being extremely well realised visually, playing out more akin to an expressionistic piece of theatre than a movie - & shot beautifully by DoP Patrick Meller, using this as a clear audition tape for "I Hate Suzie Too") doesn't really articulate the points it's trying to make as coherently - so the viewing experience is sadly stymied somewhat by the fact that although it clearly has a lot to say... It also conveys very little, ironically.

Plus, since stories usually tend to require a narrative's progression to evolve with a sense of purposefulness in order to retain an audience's engagement, I can sympathise with those who found the overwhelming aura of futility & meaninglessness as hard to sit through - since that seemingly contradicts the very reason for continuing any further.

However, I'd argue the purposelessness is a justifiable purpose, in & of itself & additionally, although she arguably bites off more than the feature's able to satisfyingly chew within the run-time, I'll always commend a filmmaker for boldly imbuing their project with ambition, even if the execution of said concept unfortunately falters slightly. Hence, I enjoyed the topical tale, irrespective of the imperfections & would still recommend, nonetheless.

While it is certainly different from what you could have expected, I could argue that it is not an entirely satisfying watch. Even though Billie Piper does a remarkable job behind and in front of the camera, the film overall feels like it lacks strenght in the right places. However I won't take away the fact that it takes quite a notable direction in storytelling, which can confuse some viewers, and fascinate others. Obviously this was Miss Piper's intention, but it was not entirely well-executed, in my view. Although the ending did leave me content somehow.

Even so, there are some marvellous performances to behold, such as the one coming from Billie Piper herself, along with Leo Bill, Kerry Fox and the always solid David Thewlis.

Interesting directing debut from Piper, and while not exent from criticism, it is a rightful start that could lead to more precisely elaborated and well-polished endeavours.

Mandy (Billie Piper) is a struggling single mom in the modern world with a bad job and a troubled son. Her mother Marion (Kerry Fox) has been living with her for the last six years after being abandoned by her father Vic (David Thewlis). She starts dating co-worker Pete (Leo Bill) who is against the modern feminist world and is frustratingly bitter. She figures that he's going to rape her on their first date and so of course, she continues dating him.

I wanted to see why this is described as an anti-rom-com. Tom is an ugly hateful character. Sometimes, those misanthropes can be funny characters. Tom is never funny. There is no reason for Mandy to date him. He's one of those bad blind dates in a rom-com montage. We can laugh at his one horrible line but we don't have to spend the rest of the movie with him. Mandy is the classic pathetic single gal in the big world character. She's a staple in TV sitcoms and various rom-coms. Billie Piper is an appealing actress and her charisma overpowers any flaws. I see what's she's trying to do here. She's an older woman who lost her youth and feels her beauty fading away. She's overwhelmed by all sides. The question is what she's going to do with that character. This is her debut as a writer and as a director. It's interesting that she's choosing to do a dark underside interpretation of the standard rom-com. I don't think it achieves what it wants. It tries to do surreal but it comes too late. There are undeserved turns. It's not truly dark enough to be shocking or somehow worthy of discussion. It's definitely not funny despite some quirky turns. Billie Piper may have some interesting ideas but she's not experienced enough to pull it all together in a black comedy which is often a tough genre to get right. My one big suggestion is to make Pete her horrible husband from the start. She's stuck in a bad marriage and she needs to escape. In this movie, she doesn't need to escape as much as she needs to never get trapped in the first place.

This is not easy to watch. I do not know if some of the misogynism is imagined or based on actual events. There is more self-criticism here than some people could tolerate. This is the worst situation, when you can see how a person is trapped, but they don't realise it. No angels or saviours inhabit this space. There is no redemption. Here is real life, and it is not pretty. I can't see this being popular, as it is disheartening. Nobody is cast in a positive light. That is realism. This reminded me of Mike Leigh's films, but this is bleaker. I believe that Billie Piper should continue directing. She is needed.