PLOT: Following the death of her mother, a former cello prodigy (Allison Williams) re-connects with her former teacher (Steven Weber) and his new prodigy (Logan Browning). After making a romantic connection, the two cellists embark on a trip through China, only to have some dark, hidden agendas quickly emerge that threaten to rob them of their talent, their minds, and their lives.
REVIEW: I was lucky enough to walk into Richard Shepard’s THE PERFECTION more or less blind. Truth be told, once I got the press release from Netflix that it was coming, as soon as I saw Shepard’s name attached I was all-in. I really like his movies, particularly THE MATADOR, but also the underrated THE HUNTING PARTY and DON HEMINGWAY. He also did some great work on HBO’s “Girls” with this pairing him with one of his former stars, Allison Williams, for an atypical attempt at horror.
While frustratingly inconsistent at times, THE PERFECTION, even if it doesn’t necessarily hold together all that well by the time the closing credits roll, is a rollicking ride. Shepard’s always been a witty stylist, and here he displays a flair for Grand Guignol that makes this a gruesome, occasionally disgusting horror flick that owes a lot to directors like David Cronenberg, as well as the “Asia Extreme” horror genre that was a big thing several years ago.
The only way to really get the most out of THE PERFECTION is to not read much about it before watching it, as it depends on last-minute reversals where you see the same sequence of events rewound and replayed from different perspectives with new information added. All is not as it seems, even if, after a while, the motivations become a bit too murky or hard to swallow for the film’s own good.
Williams has a tailor-made part as the former prodigy, who travels to China to reconnect with her old mentors only to have a dalliance with their new favorite, played by “Dear White People”’s Logan Browning. Things for awry for the two once a concert-goer gets sick with a grotesque illness, leading to some ghastly body horror – but again- things aren’t what they seem. Just when you think you have it figured out, THE PERFECTION has a bunch of perverse twists and turns ready to throw at you. You can tell Shepard’s having a ball messing with the audience, and he’s got the ideal lead in the beautiful, but somewhat aloof Williams. This aloofness means you can never really figure out what she’s thinking, making the constant reversals hard to predict when they come.
Of course, THE PERFECTION depends on some gimmicks to really work, and I’m not sure the story passes muster once it’s all unpacked. No matter, it’s fun while it lasts. It’s beautifully directed and acted and should be something of a viral sensation for the streamer provided it makes its way into enough people’s queues.