M.F.A.

This was a good to very good thriller. Francesca Eastwood painted a wonderful portrait of a victim turning to vengeance. The director obviously knew the subject matter well as the plot of the movie came across a entirely possible with the original premise being all to factual, The action keeps moving, It will hold your attention without being to gory or intellectual. Plenty of violence

The rape culture, the crime of rape and societies reaction to the victims and the rapists are a stain on America. This movie draws some needed attention to the priorities of our judicial and higher educational systems with regard to rape, victims of rape and it's perpetrators, I thank the all people who worked on this film for their efforts to bring attention to this very uncomfortable subject. A special vote of appreciation to Natalia Leite who directed this both from the heart and from personal experience.

Good ideas, sometimes bad and laughable execution, not realistic at all. A great performance save it from being an entirely bad film, but it's not very compelling either.

Triggering. Unyielding. Difficult to watch. More difficult to stop watching. Triumphant. Tragic. Watching a rape victim deal with the trauma of her assault and take that power and wield it for good. Yes I said good. Despite what other reviews may say this movie was phenomenal. How many movies are out there where a male takes on the vigilante role or avenges a female rape victim only to be praised?! So, so many. I find no problem with a powerful and complex women with excellent character development and killer acting to take on the role of bad-ass-rape-avenging-vigilante. The best part of this movie was how true it speaks to the actual anguish and emotions victims feel AND how it ACCURATELY portrays how both victims and perpetrators are treated. Thank you for this movie.

Maybe if the movie was released during the #metoo movement, it might have done really well at the box office. It does have Clint Eastwoods daughter in the main role and of course it does have the topic of sexual abuse. There is some reality behind it all which may make some people uncomfortable. 1) because of the subject matter and 2) because of how it handles the topic after it (where it descends into the fantastic and unbelievable).

While I don't agree with everything the movie is portraying, the movie itself says that our main protagonist isn't always on the right side (of her mind) either. So if you try to nitpick, there is a lot you can find here. But if you accept this as a thriller and a bit of social message in between, you should be ok. Sit back, relax and do try to take the positive the movie is trying to tell/sell

Noelle (Francesca Eastwood) is studying painting at a Californian college for her MFA. She is invited to a party by hunky classmate Luke. They make out but the sex turns rough. She tries to stop but is overpowered by him. Her neighbor Skye counsels letting it go as she had done with her own rape. Noelle decides to report to the school therapist but her questioning is accusatory. She joins a help group but the girls are ineffectual. She confronts Luke and accidentally kills him. She decides to turn into a vigilante. Police detective Kennedy (Clifton Collins Jr.) investigates.

Clint's daughter Francesca Eastwood is an interesting new actress. She hasn't broken through yet but she has the charisma to get noticed. She has a nice dark side and does damaged well. The writing is a little pedestrian but it generally works. More needs to be given to Clifton Collins Jr. His is the key for tension and drama but he isn't given the needed material. Generally, this is fine but it doesn't really push the envelope.