Strange. Fun. Cool. These are the superlatives with which we could qualify the second feature film of the very gifted Nicolas Piesce: Piercing. Film resulting from a night of love between a thriller by De Palma, Kill Bill and an Italian giallo, Piercing is a film that has a real potential of future cult film. Focus.
It all starts worryingly. Reed hesitates to kill his baby before being called to order by his wife. We already notice a licked realization, with shimmering colors. We gradually learn that Reed only dreams of one thing. To kill someone, to be able to feel a feeling of all power, to return to everyday life. For this, Reed decides to hire a prostitute. This one (embodied by a Mia Wasikowska such as we never saw her), however, changes everything, and causes a perverse game between the two protagonists.
Piercing is not to put in all hands. Violent and slightly gory, it contains some scenes that can make you quite uncomfortable. This is not the case of yours truly who enjoyed the show. It is indeed enjoyable to see this exchange of roles between executioner and victim. It is really fun to observe the spectacle of this future prostitute, who ends up becoming a potential executioner and vice versa. Here, there is no good or bad, but only two characters who flirt between love and death. Heroes and Thanatos then.
A rather simplistic story (a man wants to kill a woman, she ends up taking over and vice versa…), but which is extremely well staged. The work on the light is impeccable (one would think that Reed is lit as if it were Michael Corleone), each shot is composed to perfection. There is no rowdy style effect here, but only a simple, effective and artistically impressive realization. We are struck by Piesce's way of filming the buildings, seeming to be unreal giving a fantastic side and never seen before to the city where the action takes place.
The casting is impeccable. Christopher Abbot detonates as a neurotic, manic killer, bordering on autism. It is hard to believe that this man is a potential killer, so much he makes you want to pity him. He looks more like a victim than an executioner. As for Mia Wasikowska she certainly signs one of her most impressive performances. The actress no longer looks at all like Alice from Alice in Wonderland. It has matured and reveals an impressive and varied range of play. Between woman in love, jealous, depressed and domineering, she embodies a totally unpredictable and mysterious character.
There is a real punk side to making this B series, in a noble way, that is to say to make a low-budget film, but with a successful and innovative direction. And that's what Piesce manages to do, with this SM thriller. Subversive, funny, from the giallo, Piercing is a real success. If he succeeds in being successful he could very well become the new Kill Bill. Meanwhile, at JustFocus it is already cult.
