Close but no Cigarillo

Rating: 6/10 (21 September 2017)

Just one thing on top of another! Often different noises or different people coming at us simultaneously from different parts of the screen. The Lawrence character is forever fearfully reacting to the latest home invasion or the latest weird effusion from her house. Which she's tried to turn into a heaven. As if.
I went along with this one for the first two acts. Getting more extreme, but still in the frame. interesting and pointed. For me, the violent third act is a polariser, you either love it or hate it. I hated it. In the moment of watching, I couldn't grasp the full sense of it, and it seemed to undo a lot of the good work that had come before.
Good to see Lawrence going for new levels. Bardem as the blocked writer just seems to cruise, a less sinister version of his No Country dude. The previous reviewer here makes a useful comparison to Bunuel's teasing sleights of hand. Just think of the remarkable discipline in the quick-fire third act of Obscure Object, then compare that to the mayhem here.