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Sunday, June 7, 2020

MOVIE REVIEW: SHIRLEY








































A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.

Director: Josephine Decker

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young and Logan Lerman

Release Date: June 5, 2020

Genres: Biography, Drama, Thriller

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and brief disturbing images

Runtime: 1h 47min

Review:

Shirley is an art house film through and through for better or worse.  Josephine Decker’s engaging and unsettling film recalls the classic film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  This fictional account of Shirley Jackson’s life uses a lot of the same skeletal frame of that film but it’s done in a decidedly disorientating way.  Some of the sequences work better than others while some just feel pretentious.  Luckily the film is anchored by another stellar performance by Elisabeth Moss.  There is a tempered but palatable ferocity in every shot she’s in; needless to say she’s always the most interesting thing on screen. Moss and Odessa Young make an interesting pair on screen especially as the plot moves towards its finale.  Young is solid throughout but it’s hard to compete with Moss’s electric turn which may ultimately lead to awards for her.  The film as a whole tends to be more hit or miss since some of the choices work better than others. 


B-

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