jimcheva

Know right off that this is a mess, with all manner of unexplained or half-explained relationships and sequences. It keeps moving through a series of dramatic, typically violent moments which move fast enough that most viewers won't think about the gaps in the mechanics which make the whole progress unlikely. Notably, Blunt's character puts herself in blatantly dangerous situations more than once that simple breeding would have led her to avoid. The whole point of her quest (she sort of has one) is strongly hinted at but never really clear. Then all at once at moments she becomes like one of the women in "Kill Bill", ruthless and lethal. The whole tale is in the tradition of "Lost", keeping you interested by raising questions with colorful characters but never quite answering them. What keeps you watching is above all the two leads, notably Chaske Spencer who has a vital, laconic energy that is always compelling (if you read the account in his IMDb entry of his harrowing experience with addiction, you can imagine some of the roots of this energy). If you don't think too hard about each step or demand any clarity in the end, you'll probably enjoy the ride. But it's one of those pieces that depends more on character and texture than story.

I found Mame annoying at the start, as I often do characters who are shown to be improbably ditzy and impractical. If the film had continued with that near slapstick, I might have bowed out. But first of all the story becomes more complex (though the horse riding sequence is like something out of a sitcom) and Mame's underlying principles emerge. One death is very cleverly handled, managing to remain comic despite the pivotal loss. Where the movie really shines is in showing certain kinds of tediously conventional people, as her beloved nephew gets engaged. We are subtly but firmly reminded of the banality and pretense of some classes of society even before a burst of outright anti-Semitism not only paints them in withering colors but reveals a really admirable streak in Mame. The issue of out-of-wedlock pregnancy is handled in a surprisingly frank way. The portrait of a smooth hustler, with all the menace implicit in his goals, is just understated enough. As entertaining as the film is then on its own terms, from as bit of a period piece going for obvious laughs it develops into something far more nuanced and far more modern by the end.

Vague suggestions of Lesbian desire mainly justify the title. Much of the plot centers around competition within a company, and some over a man, with another spoiler element later. But it is mainly not a very sexy film and as a thriller it's hard to believe sometimes and hard to follow others. Some of the behavior is simply over the top. There are some striking images and visual sequences, a little clever photography, so if you stick with it you may not feel like you completely wasted your time, but there's a good chance if you do you'll end up thinking there's lots of better ways you could have used that viewing time.