The Weaker Man

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2019)

If you through this movie is like the Wicker Man - then yes, you were right. It is exactly like the Wicker Man, only with prettier cinematography and a weaker script.
The story is allover the place, as if the movie is trying to tell us something using too many unnecessary details. The characters, at least the main ones, are interesting and they are portrayed very realistically by the actors playing them, as in they feel like real people with real goals and motives, but their goals and motives are just left there hanging, not really explored or concluded in any way, shape or form.
Thus one cannot escape the feeling that the movie is being disturbing just for the sake of being disturbing, without much substance to it, putting this motion picture firmly into the exploitation category. Yes, it is bright, trippy, perverted and beautifully shot in best visual traditions of Kubrick, but it's an empty shell of a Faberge egg: it's pretty to look at and it's very expensive, but it's not nutritious, it cannot provide sustenance.
The other weak point of the movie is that for such a long film, it paradoxically lacks patience. Instead of building suspense slowly and gradually, the movie practically spoils the ending right away with one of the earlier scenes. It's as if we would have seen Norman Bates casually strolling in drag about 15 minutes into the movie, and then trying to act normally again until the big reveal.
If you wanted a movie like the Wicker Man - you're better off just watching the Wicker Man instead, either the original or the unintentionally comedic remake with Nick "Not The Bees" Cage.