Movie Review: Emily the Criminal

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A fantastic suspense thriller. 

Whether she is in a mainstream movie or an art house film, Aubery Plaza never fails to impress me in pretty much every role she takes on. She is an incredibly gifted actress and always shows incredible range. I also respect how she is not afraid to take on incredibly challenging roles (like the one here). Therefore it is a large statement when I tell you, I think in Emily the Criminal she gives perhaps her finest performance. This is a film that if the right actress was not cast, simply wouldn't work. Luckily Aubery Plaza is exactly the right actress. Because of her we can find ourselves relating to this mostly unlikable character. That is because her performance gives a bit of humanity behind the character's morally terrible decisions. There are times when we actually find ourselves wanting this character to get away with her crimes. Yet despite her adding humanity to this character, the actress knows not to go too far in this direction. Like the other characters in the film, we are never supposed to fully know this character and what she does next is supposed to be a mystery to us. Aubery understands this perfectly and though we can relate to and believe this character, we always know there is something underneath the actress is just not telling us.

Yet this movie does not rest solely on the wonderful performance of Aubery Plaza. Writer and director John Patton Ford knows how to keep us the edge of our seats and always guess what is going to happen next. Despite this incredibly being his feature length debut, this film feels like the work of an old pro. There is not a second of film wasted and everything is so wonderfully designed to keep us on the edge of our seats. The film never moves too quickly to lose its feeling of suspense or too slowly that it might lose our interest. He knows when to give us a strong suspense scene and when to give us a breather. He also knows how to incorporate social commentary without ever stopping the film to sermonize to us. The premise of this film is very simple and not that different from similar suspense movies. A young woman is stuck in dead end job without enough money to pay her student debts. Yet John Patton Ford knows just how to make this premise feel new and fresh. I cannot wait to see what this director does next.

A must see.