A psychologically fragile young woman becomes caught up in a sexually charged murder investigation in writer-director Wash Westmoreland's Tokyo-set mystery thriller,. Based on a prize-winning 2001 crime novel by English author Susanna Jones, this solidly crafted Ridley Scott production is sprinkled with classy ingredients, including Alicia Vikander as headline star.
The British-born, L.A.-based Westmoreland has a pretty strong critical and commercial track record, notably as co-director of the Oscar-winning Julianne Moore dramabrings A-list collaborators to B-movie material, but to mostly uninspired effect. Following its world premiere at London Film Festival, it is heading for a limited theatrical release on November 1, then streaming on Netflix from November 15.takes place in Tokyo in 1989.
As Lucy's feelings for her enigmatic Japanese lover deepen into obsession, Lily's flirtatious interest in Teiji soon becomes a source of simmering jealousy between the two women. Unspoken suspicions finally boil over during a shared trip to the picturesque Sado Island, when Lucy is mysteriously taken ill and all but abandoned by her two travel companions. In the explosive recriminations that follow, ancient family secrets and unreliable confessions muddy the waters.
A key strength of any superior genre thriller is making even the most unlikely plot twists and contrived character flaws seem plausible, butbarely seem to believe even in its own pulpy premise. With this lurid guilty pleasure factor dialed right down, Westmoreland is stuck trying to squeeze excitement from wooden performances, ponderous dialogue and poorly explained hallucination scenes, not to mention minimal sexual chemistry between his passionless leads.
Credit is due to Vikander for breathing life into such a flatly written, fairly unsympathetic protagonist, as well as delivering lengthy passages of dialogue in Japanese. A brief clip from Ridley Scott's Japan-set crime thriller is also a neat little insider homage. But for all its smart plumage, this bird never takes flight. Ultimately,remains grounded because most viewers will have trouble buying into its absurd plot, and too few will even care.
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