Queen of Earth - Review by Lifestyle MK's Film Writer, Tremayne Miller

Queen of Earth

Dir Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip).

With

Elisabeth Moss, Katherine Waterston, Patrick Fugit, Kentucker Audley, Keith Poulson, Kate Lyn Sheil, Craig Butta. 

Produced by Elisabeth Moss, Alex Ross Perry, Joe Swanberg, Adam Piotrowicz.

Running time: 89 MIN.

Mad Men and Top of the lake - the extensive repertoire and talent of Elisabeth Moss.

The Critics Consensus of ‘Queen of Earth’ seems to be that it is led by a scorching performance by Elisabeth Moss, with the addition of strong writer-director Alex Ross Perry, who has an impressive filmography to date.

Queen of Earth unlike other short stories surveys the different stages of one woman’s psychological breakdown.

- ‘an utterly fearless central performance by Elisabeth Moss.’

Although the “misanthropic signature” of Perry mightn’t appeal to all, for connoisseurs of “auteur cinema” this may well not be the case.

Perry’s film appears to carry a deep affection towards the late 1960s and early 1970s alt-Hollywood cinema, with narratives mirroring those of Brian De Palma’s “Sisters.”

As I set about writing my review on unnerving new thriller, ‘Queen of Earth’, starring Elisabeth Moss (Man Men) and Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Steve Jobs and forthcoming Fantastic beasts and where to find them, penned by JK Rowling), so do I draw parallels with early 1950s Bette Davis film, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane.

In What Ever Happened To Baby Jane

Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is an aging child star who is left to care for wheelchair-bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former child actress. As they live together in a Hollywood mansion, Blanche intends to get even with Jane for the car crash that she imposed, which left her crippled. However Jane is desperate that Blanche should remain imprisoned at the same time she sets her heights on rising to fame again. Why, she even goes so far as to try and hide Blanche from doctors, visitors and neighbours.

Perry cites Woody Allen’s “Interiors” as a key influence. The obligatory woman in this instance being an on-the-edge Catherine (Moss, also a Producer of the film), who decides to spend a week of exile at the lake house of her friend, Virginia (Katherine Waterston), this is instigated by the death of her father and a messy breakup from her boyfriend, whereupon we find ourselves somewhat immersed in the haunting tranquility of the Hudson River Valley, where the silence is most deafening.

We learn that Catherine’s late father was a notable artist, and that she worked for him as a kind of bumped-up assistant. In contrast Perry shows us what life was like at the lake house a year previous, when Catherine had visited. The Catherine then was in a blossoming romance with James (Kentucker Audley), a continually laid-back fellow whose influence over Catherine is a source of “pronounced irritation”.

In the present, circumstances have changed, and Virginia is now under the control of (Patrick Fugit), who lives next door.

‘The flashbacks in “Queen of Earth” are like little Proustian splinters that lodge under the skin of the characters as they run their hands along the bannisters of the past.’

Perry provides structure to the film by assigning chapters.

The wooden house is scarcely left, and seems to play out like more of a Bunuelian prison, and eeriness is enhanced by the piano’s score.

In Perry’s world he defines what his interpretation of friendship is.

Despite Waterston being the passive-aggressive one, the film belongs to Moss, who, did the same in “Listen Up Philip,” when she played the neglected girlfriend.

She reacts to Catherine’s downward spiral with such unpredictable rhythm that every gesture appears to be in the moment.

Together, Perry and she draw us in, into a sort of orbit, which, although wild, begins to make sense.

  “Queen of Earth,” like ““Listen Up Philip” is aesthetically pleasing, courtesy of cinematographer Sean Price Williams; that is to say, a warm 16mm lense that favours tight close-ups. Fittingly the credits at the front and back end of the film are set in an elegant font, and read almost like invitations to a party that no-one would dare attend.

  “Queen of Earth” will had a limited theatrical release in the UK & Ireland on 1 July 2016.

©Tremayne Miller

 - https://www.wearecolony.com/

*We are Colony is a startup that’s trying to be like the next Netflix for behind-the-scenes film footage, whilst connecting you up with great movies and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from your favourite filmmakers and Talent.

 Overall result 1 star.