Femme (2023)

 

Genre: Thriller/ Drama

Time: 1h 40mins

Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping

Quick Summary: Follows Jules, who is targeted in a horrific homophobic attack, destroying his life and career. Sometime after that event he encounters Preston, one of his attackers, in a gay sauna. He wants revenge.

Am I supposed to feel bad for Jules? Preston was the real victim here, I was almost crying for him at the end.

No seriously, by the end of this, I had no idea who to actually feel bad for. Should I feel bad for the person who got attacked or the person who got lured into a false relationship? Even if it was for the sake of revenge it's an equally horrible thing to do. Both people were terrible people. I was a little uncomfortable with how they presented the Gay Community in a slightly bad light too.

It's tense from the get-go and I was internally screaming right until the end because I was terrified for both people. I barely had a minute to breathe since at any moment either person could have been caught. Every scene and encounter is filled with a growing sense of dread that keeps getting bigger and bigger until it finally explodes at the end. Everything is one big power play that keeps changing, each other literally swapping who is the more dominating person. 

Honestly, I felt a lot of things watching this. The acting is incredible. It's one of those that you forget you're watching a film and are fully engrossed in the story. It's gritty, real, and punches you right in the feelings. A real deep dive into this mentality. That said, it is such a shame they didn't explain Preston's backstory too much. I think there could have been a lot more of an emotional connection to why he was the way he was if we knew more, but I suppose this isn't about that. It's about revenge, and when you follow revenge you best dig two graves. 

Admittedly this was a difficult watch in places because it got too tense for me (I felt like my head was going to explode), and I feel like the ending was disappointing. It's not that I wanted closure, I wanted a conclusion because it leaves it a bit in the air. As well the whole thing being revealed so randomly was bizarre to me. Maybe it wasn't really thought out that far ahead.

Honestly, this could have done with being about twenty minutes longer just to give things more time. Again, this was difficult but I did enjoy watching this. 

8/10