Bodies, Bodies, Bodies

 7/10

In this dark comedy/thriller, Sophie (played by The Hate You Give's Amandla Stenberg) takes her new girlfriend Bee (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm's Maria Bakalova) to hang her with her friends at her best friend David's parents' huge, lavish house. Soon, things go horribly wrong, emotions start running, and everyone starts becoming suspicious of each other. 

The first act does start out a bit slow and partially weak. Don't get me wrong, there are some good lines and the movie does a good job with Bee of encompassing the awkwardness of being somewhere where you don't know anyone, but it runs a little too long with the whole millenials being kinda toxic/ridiculous. schtick. I think too many lines are given to some characters than needed.

But when things get dark, that's when it starts getting good. The movie does a great job of making you guess what happens next, including one particularly tense scene in particular. (I particularly like how this ends.) This is also when the making-fun-of-millennials humor really pays off. The movie takes a lot of shots at the shallowness of the social media generation.

At first, I didn't like the cinematography in this. It had a sort of art-house quality. I was like, "I get it this is an A24 film. Not all their films have to look like this!" However, I think I understand why they went that way. The style definitely allows color to work. After the second act, a lot of this is shot in the dark, and the cinematographer/lighting person really managed to make light and color work in contrast to the blackness. Seriously, my congratulations to the lighting department; they did an excellent job. Also, I love the house or sets for this film. It is an impressive place.  

Acting's good across the board. (Cast includes Lee Pace and SNL's Peter David.)

Recommended. It's not a perfect film, parts could've been tightened and the spoiled kid dialogue can get a bit basic, but it is an interesting film that does hold your attention in the end.