Miller's Girl

18 year old Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega) lives alone in a mansion while her parents are away somewhere. Her new married creative writing teacher Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman) takes an interest in her and she returns the interest with obsession. When he rejects her pornographic writing, all hell breaks loose.

This movie oscillates between aggressively written and aggressively overwritten. It is trying so hard to be edgy. Jenna Ortega is oozing her lines out. I almost appreciate how hard it is running with scissors. At the end of the day, I am more annoyed with it than appreciate it. It doesn't help that the movie stops short. There is another fifteen minutes or more to go.

It tries to have this sexual tension between the main characters all the time. They had no chemistry, they did supposedly have reasons for pursuing each other but it wasn't depicted in a convincing manner. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't. It had the potential to be something better. The only scene I enjoyed is when Cairo lit up a cigarette in the dark, that looked like something that could've been in a horror movie. The voice narration seemed over the top and unnatural. Felt like the movie was trying too hard. The narration also reminded me of Delores from Westworld.

Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman were okay but the movie wasn't the most captivating. It's a story that's been done before so it really needed to offer something different. But in the end feels pretty unremarkable and you'll probably forget about it as you leave the theatre. I didn't really care much about what happens with the characters and some of the conversations made me sigh and roll my eyes. I did think it was interesting where the movie took the story and shift in power dynamic between the two, but it could've been written better. Especially if you go and watch gone girl or thoroughbreds. It could've been a more captivating revenge story.

I had high hopes. From the trailer it looked interesting and aesthetically pleasing but I was very wrong. Unfortunately by the end of the movie I was left feeling frustrated because, the main thing about this movie - the tension, it was non existent.

There was no chemistry between the main protagonists. Zero. And Martin's heavy breathing in Jenna's face was very uncomfortable to watch...

Jenna on the other hand... Oh God, where do I even start?? She was so stiff the whole time it was seriously hard to watch. I don't know when this movie was filmed, but she seems stuck in her "Wednesday" role. Yes, her character is supposed to be strong, opinionated, witty, charming, seductive... But she fails to deliver any of it! She doesn't seem like clever teenage girl suddenly shaken and intrigued by an unexpected new variable in her life, at times she kinda looks bored. Her narrating was good though. But like I mentioned, the main point of the movie, the taboo of the desire and magnetism between main characters, is absolutely lacking. It's almost cringe and uncomfortable watching their scenes of "passion and attraction"...

To sum it up - good idea, poorly executed. Shame.

First off hands off to the entire cast. They are quite good in this film and the script especially when the main characters quotes dialogue is really well written. I was expecting something rather poor from the 5.2 review on imdb but I honestly think most people who watched this didn't get the point the director was making.

Jenna Ortega plays a fairly unbelievable character let's get that out there not only is she a siren but she has a plan and is incredibly clever, well if you know anything about 18 year olds this is quite far fetched. Martin Freeman is the naive muse in an Luke warm marriage flattered by the attraction and attention of a young good looking fan and it spirals in a rather prectible way but what makes this better than most fatal attraction movies is his conduct I don't want to mention spoilers in my reviews but he got burned for a thought.

A more complex movie than it first appears, the acting from the entire cast was outstanding. At times I found the characters actually made me feel uncomfortable on their behalf and it took me a while to realise that this is exactly what was intended. The entire movie is a study of the emotional struggle of crossing boundaries and this required an impressive intensity from both Ortega and Freeman. In exactly the same vein, Miller's wife, played by Dagmara Dominczyk, was a masterclass in how to develop a character from superficial attractiveness into gin-soaked malignance - an outstanding performance.

I've no doubt that some will find the movie "slow" and "meandering", but if you are prepared to invest in it, the cast will repay you with a moving (and slightly terrifying!) emotional journey that will stay with you for a long time. A feat which few works can manage.