Saltburn

The talented Emerald Fennel strikes again and it's a blast. A decadent, provocative, twisted, slightly perverted piece of spectacle that mixes drama with thriller and with a slight nod to art. The film won me over, entertained me and in the end shocked me perfectly. Fennel has chosen a trio of the most talented young actors of today. Jacob Elordi has been great since Euphoria, Archie Madekwe has had a decent run after See and Gran Turismo, and Barry Keoghan, well he's a proven quality actor who even has one of the most prominent roles here as a weirdo, and he is really good. We follow a strange, lonely boy with no friends who goes to Oxford where befriends the coolest guy, a rich aristocrat who invites him to spend the summer holidays at his mansion with his eccentric family. All the characters are interesting. Rosamund Pike is also perfect. The dialogues (the explanation of the moth is sheer screenwriting perfection!), the mood is really weird, the drama turns into an uncomfortable thriller out of nowhere and that's only because of the pulsating music and chilling dialogues, this is what the director does well. The vampire play and the grave scene are quite unusual. But the final impression is made even better by the final half hour, which features two shocking twists that make this film memorable. It's been a long time since a twist has knocked me out like this. And to top it off, there’s a naked dancing Keoghan like the future Joker. Yes, this was good, but you have to be prepared for it. 8/10. (24.12.2023)

A typical role for the excellent Barry Keoghan in a relationship flick with shades of The Talented Mr. Ripley, in the setting of The Favourite with Britpop hits. However, the freakshow of characters from the wealthy family that Keoghan’s character infiltrates does not arouse the viewer’s understanding, interest or sympathy and thus the web of their relationships with him, which is crucial to the dramatisation of the film, comes crashing down. These relationships are simply not well constructed. The film thus becomes an ambitious yet ineffective cynical-psychological construct with several interesting scenes and constant ambiguity that arouses one’s curiosity. But in the end, even that seems rather the result of the same kind of sloppy directing with which Emerald Fennell made Promising Young Woman. (07.01.2024)

The direction and the acting brilliantly build-up a mesmerizing sociopathic decadence towards... Well, that's really the only problem with the film. Towards what? (29.12.2023)

The second films of directors who pick up Oscar awards and nominations for their debuts are always eagerly anticipated, and in the case of Emerald Fennell, many people may be unpleasantly shocked to learn that Saltburn is essentially rubbish. A degenerate travesty with lifeless characters whose behaviour bears little resemblance to reality, but with plenty of at-first-signal provocative scenes. Does that bother you? Not at all. Because we don't often see junk this fancy and formally dressed up. One of the most stylish films of the year, but on the other hand, I imagine that if I watched it in a different mood, it might annoy me quite intensely. (23.12.2023)