A Thousand Little Cuts

This film deals a lot with domestic violence and may be triggering to some viewers

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'A Thousand Little Cuts' tells the story of Anne (Rebecca Liddiard), a copy editor for a small time drug company who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of how or why she got there. With the help of Dr. Monica Atlas (Marina Sirtis), Anne sifts through her memories to uncover the details of a terrible nights' events.

This film plays similarly to 'The Secret Window' (2004), in that a very traumatic event leads to temporary amnesia. Anne's life and the people in it all play a crucial role - and surprisingly, the bad guy isn't as predictable as one might assume. Direction, acting, script, and flow all work nicely together; though, due to the narration and premise of the story, the film replies heavily on flashbacks and recollections, which may deter some viewers.

Worth a watch!

I would not call this a "thriller", at all. It *is* a mystery. The last half hour is played much straighter than the first hour and the result is more impactful. The problem is the first hour also qualifies for the genre tag "dark comedy" due to all the stereotypical portrayals of toxic masculinity. Essentially, the film is about the cumulative effect of the experiences of toxic masculinity on one woman, and her reactions to it. Rebecca Liddiard is interesting and engaging in a nicely layered performance as that one woman. I don't want to say the other actors, particularly the males, gave obviously lower quality performances, but I almost had the sense they were so embarrassed to be portraying those stereotypes that they did not really know how to do it effectively. I think the overall film would have benefited from the men being played straight, instead of as foolish caricatures with no self-awareness, all the way through. At the end of the day, this took on an important topic on a very low budget and provided some interesting twists, resulting in not a terrible film but not above average either. Mostly, it made me want to see more of Liddiard.

If this film were Romanian or French, US producers would throw tons of money at it to make an English language version in which Nicole Kidman plays the shrink. As it is, Marina Sirtis is outstanding as the psychiatrist charged with unraveling the mystery of a particularly heinous crime scene, no Kidman necessary.

A Thousand Little cuts is an absolute gem of a layered thriller that deserved far more financing than it got; hence the rating of 8- it sometimes comes off as a bit too low budget. The story and storytelling are superb. Writer/Director Joshua Brandon also inspired excellent performances. The film was a most engaging, pleasant surprise and I look forward to seeing more of Brandon's work.

This could have been a gripping thriller along the lines of A Perfect Murder, keeping the audience guessing until the flip at the end.

Instead, we get drawn-out scenes showing the protagonist Anne being belittled by a misogynistic boss, frustrated by a lazy co-worker who is valued more than she is, mistreated by a guy she hooks up with via a dating app, and intimidated by an aggressive neighborhood jogger. All these scenes with two-dimensional male stereotypes are interspersed with scenes featuring a psychologist who tries to get her to dig deeper into herself to discover the truth of why she's in the hospital, and scenes of her best girlfriend expounding on how she keeps her married sex life spicy.

The idea is good, and the themes of the still-existing glass ceiling and the subjugation of women are relevant. But I can't help but feel they could have been written with more depth and more connection to the actual crime that isn't revealed until the very end. Had we known more about what had happened, the other issues would have been more compelling, and perhaps the male characters wouldn't have been such shallow, cookie-cutter stereotypes.

I applaud the attempt to address the very real issue of partner abuse as it affects women in our society. I only wish it wasn't so shallow and ham-handed.

Could be a good movie if there was enough and appropriate reason for the gun presence.

Why someone can be so mad at someone that he was not much interacted with, and then brought a gun.