'Fresh' may be as close as we get to a modern 'American Psycho'
Hulu
A really good movie you can recommend to almost no one, “Fresh” is creepy and gross and stylish and upsetting and much more thoughtful than many might claim. It examines modern power dynamics in relationships and the inherent violence of the patriarchy, showing that monsters are human but humans can be monsters. In a lot of ways, it accomplishes what “Promising Young Woman” attempted but failed to achieve.
Nearly putting the “etizer” in dating apps, “Fresh” chronicles the budding relationship between Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Steve (Sebastian Stan of “Pam and Tommy”) after they meet-cute in a grocery store and Noa shrugs off Steve’s total lack of web presence because things are going well and, sure, let’s go away for the weekend and YIKES. Without saying too much, know that you’ll never look at the “human meat” episode of “It’s Always Sunny” the same way again. The same might apply to any type of meat and any movies that deliver the same degree of visual, er, buffet that first-time feature director Mimi Cave brings to a narrative that needed exactly this sort of devastating eye.
Edgar-Jones and Stan are paired perfectly, both proving their abilities to lead a movie like this or perhaps a rom-com that doesn’t have the potential to horrify. Lauryn Kahn’s script requires maybe a little too much suspension of disbelief at times, and I’m not sure she ever figures out what to do with a supporting character after she’s identified via a pretty excellent twist. The movie also doesn’t quite get close enough to the source of what’s happening and the people who drive this particularly disturbing operation.
Small matters. This is a riveting movie of possession, acquiescence, support and resilience that could only be more twisted if Hulu had released it for Valentine’s Day. Um, thanks?
B+
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