Julia Docournau's Raw is best described as a cannibalistic, coming-of-age story, a subversive experience which follows Justine, a young woman, who has just arrived at college for her first year of veterinary school. Justine arrives to a vet school that takes its indoctrination very seriously, with the upperclassman forcing the incoming class to participate in a host of hazing rituals, most notably the consumption of a rabbit heart. A devout vegetarian, Justine is reluctant at first, but through the peer pressure of her older sister, an upperclassman at the school, she eventually succumbs to the pressure. As Justine struggles to fit-in, she begins to experience an unquenchable thirst for meat, a taste which she can't seem to shake, no matter how hard she tries. Julia Ducournau's Raw is a film that shows minimal interest in explaining its depravity through much of its running time, being gleeful dance in the grotesque that only connects the dots towards the very end of its running time. The film is quite peculiar right from the onset, offering a strange mix of comedy and horror that marches to beat the its own drum, as it details the exploits of young Justine, an young, naive girl whose innocence and shy demeanor restrict her socially. Gorehound horror fans may be disappointed in Raw, as the film's strengths relate more to its subversive juxtaposition of social anxiety with that of Justine's thirst for human flesh, detailing a character whose individual awakening just so happens to involve cannibalism. The desire to fit in and be one of the crowd is a concept which Raw uses to its advantage, with Justine's sexual & social awakening going hand-and-hand with her desire to eat flesh, both serving as a quasi-right of passage into adulthood for our young, impressionable protagonist. While Raw isn't particularly gorey, at least compared to a lot of film's out there, Julia Docournau shows an uncanny ability to make the audience squirm, executing the few grotesque horror sequences skillfully, showing a penchant for detail in timing when playing in this macabre environment. Without going into too much detail, the film''s conclusion does an excellent job of bringing clarity to what the audience has just experienced, with many of the decisions made by both Julia, her parents, and her sister, all becoming much clearer when the credits roll. While much of the discussion about Julia Ducournau's Raw is based around its ability to shock and grotesque the audience, what stood out to me about the film is its cleverness, using the tropes of the coming-of-age story to deliver a subversive horror film that is as funny and peculiar as it's grotesque.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|