Perfect

"PERFECT" 5/10 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠 This very slow and somewhat demonic Sci-fi feature set in the future about a young man attending a rehabilitation retreat for a mysterious condition is visually shot in the style of a music video. And not just the models on parade or the heavy shadowy scenes filmed under vibrant florescent lights or the many extended clips utilizing slow motion every aspect appears to be one big fever dream. The acting also feels as though I can't give it a true grade because I just didn't see enough of it, like actors portraying a scenario in a rap video it looks great but who can say watching 60fps through a macro lens slowed to half speed. The pace of this film lends to the psychological horror that unfolds but as much as they reveal graphically theres equal amounts that are abstract and hard to understand. I give this movie credit for it's artistic effort but the whole movie felt like traveling through a worm hole with no idea of what's up or down by the time it's over. Under developed is an understatement here even the few people who appear barely ever say a name. The budget for this film is small, it doesn't come across as cheesy or cheap but the limited locations and actors along with some of the special effects echoes independent financing. My conclusion in the end is I believe I may have figured out what the intended meaning of the movie was but your guess would be as good as mine. Would I recommend this movie for others not necessarily although it has some good qualities but to take that trip again knowing the final destination is really not worth it.

Seriously? I have no idea what was going on this movie. Something about rebirth/transcendence or something.

4 is being generous, as this immediately hits a note of stupefying pretentiousness, with the protagonist asking elemental existential questions in voiceover, in an annoyingly immature voice. (I've noticed this turning into a trend, giving "profound" voiceover narration to actors whom the filmmakers don't seem to realize sound like teenage airheads.) He's in trouble because his blood-drenched girlfriend is dead in his bed and he doesn't know what happened, except that he did it. Mommy (a really thankless caricature of a role for Abbie Cornish) whisks him off in her limo to a retreat center of some sort where he'll get "fixed." But in this vague, kinda-sorta sci-fi story, he doesn't get fixed, he just get worse. Gee: You'd think carving chunks out of his head and replacing them with translucent plastic cubes would have done the trick just fine!

There is no question that "Perfect" is total pretentious twaddle, with all the signs of people who've made it in lucrative but extremely shallow media (I'm assuming music videos and commercials), so they managed to drum up a fair amount of money to spend on a quintessential "Well it seemed deep when I was stoned, which is all the time" project that has no real story or ideas, just a whisper of a premise. (Several of the main collaborators were also involved in "Kuso," about which you could say exactly the same things.)

There's a lot of picturesque posing by frequently nude people with good physiques, artily shot; in other words, a lot of music video material, albeit with more full nudity. The script, such as it is, consists largely of empty koans like "The problem with the truth is that once you know it, you can't unknow it." (Yes, this is the kind of movie that thinks such pronouncements are meaningful, neglecting to notice that the only source of actual meaning would lie in that "truth," which of course it never defines.) Though most of "Perfect" is more like a filmed fashion layout than a horror movie (or a narrative, period), it does occasionally make an effort at providing some "shocking" content. The zenith of that effect (involving flesh consumption) strains so, SO hard to break a "taboo" that I couldn't stop laughing. The only other real laugh came during the final credits, when people received billing for "story" and "screenplay."

You can't talk about acting in a movie like this--the actors are mostly stuck just posing, doubtless with zero help in terms of motivation etc. from the director. But hollow and affected as it is, "Perfect" is still technically accomplished, and has enough of interest in purely aesthetic terms to bump up my rating a star or two. For one thing, its primary location is apparently a real, somewhat famous mid-century-modernist estate in L.A., and it is architecturally very striking, as well as very well utilized by the cinematographer.

This is the classic example of a movie that would look fascinating if it were projected without sound as background at a club--it's only when you actually pay attention and realize there's "no there there" that it becomes exasperating. The pure abstraction of the final-credits computer graphics is more successful than anything else here, because it sloughs off the pretense of aiming for anything beyond simply looking cool. The music by Flying Lotus didn't blow me away, but it's diverse and interesting enough. All the things that are normally window-dressing in movies with actual substance are the ONLY substance here, and they are fine. It's just in the realms of, you know, storytelling, characters, depth, tension, empathy, et al. that "Perfect" is just about non-existent.

The premise tries too hard to be very philosophical and it gets lost in itself which may be disappointed the film to begin with. The main actor is quite good but he even seems somewhat confused by what the logic of the film is to be. It just reminds me of a much higher budget film school film that is very beautifully shot and if you have the patience is very nice to watch. But I don't think the director writer producers were even sure of what they were trying to make.

I'm halfway between those who are sniffing their own farts and examining "brilliant" and those belching out "arthouse garbage". I loosely feel like I understood what was being presented but it's a film that is overtly obscure in its narrative, see my title for more information. It was far too well shot and composed to give it a 1 star. It's ambiguous nature of shock and sexuality is too much to give it a 10. If you like artsy horror than I would recommend checking it out. If you enjoy a structured story than skip at all costs.