A potential killer gets more than he bargained for from the prostitute he
hires with the intention of murdering.
Directed by: Nicolas Pesce
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Christopher Abbott, Laia Costa,
Maria Dizzia, Wendell Pierce
Adapted from a novel by Ryū Murakami,
Piercing stars Christopher Abbott as Reed, a young,
affluent family man who tells his wife (Laia Costa) that he's heading
off on a business trip and books himself into a hotel room where he plans to
commit a murder, something he's been considering since childhood. Reed dials
up an escort agency and meticulously plans his violent attack while waiting
for his potential victim, young prostitute Jackie (Mia Wasikowska),
to arrive.
Upon her arrival, it becomes clear that Jackie might be as unhinged as the
man who has such awful plans for her. When she excuses herself to use the
bathroom, Reed enters to find Jackie stabbing herself manically with a
scissors. His plans rent asunder, Reed brings the woman he planned to kill
to a hospital, and later finds himself in her apartment, eating her soup.
What ensues is a very physically painful battle of the sexes as both parties
attempt to make the other their victim.
Murakami wrote the novel that Takashi Miike adapted into his notorious
1999 thriller
Audition, and we're on very similar ground here with a drama of gender conflict
that veers close to torture porn territory. Both Abbott and Wasikowska are
very good here, and both are convincingly disturbed in their own ways, but I
couldn't help think this was a story that lost something in its East to West
translation. It's beautiful to look at, but it does feel like an imitation
of the starkness of Japanese genre cinema, with a dash of Wes Anderson's
dollhouse aesthetic in the production design. Borrowing some European
atmosphere, Pesce scores his film with Italian exploitation soundtracks from
the '70s and '80s, which will take you out of the drama if you're familiar
with such needle drops.
Essentially a two character play, Piercing sees Reed and
Jackie play off each other for most of the running time, but we never really
get to know either of them, and with the end credits kicking in around the
75 minute mark it feels like the plug has been pulled just at the point
where you might finally find yourself becoming invested in these characters.
Pesce's film ends with a punchline of sorts, which has the effect of making
you feel somewhat short-changed, as though you've watched a very long short
rather than a very short feature.
Piercing is on Amazon Prime Video
UK now.
