Why So Blu?

The Woman (Movie Review)

Who’s in the mood for some controversy, violence, brutality, gore, and a few other things? Getting The Woman screener in the mail was a pretty hysterical experience, because it actually came with a doggie bag just in case I wanted to have a vomit. C’mon, after watching Martyrs and A Serbian Film back-to-back was The Woman really going to make me throw up? Well, keep on reading to see if the doggie bag was utilized. Why So Blu? is proud to present: The Woman.

 

The Woman is the story of the last member of an extinct tribe that lived in the Northeast coast for years. The real world and the savage world clash when mild mannered Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) is on a hunting trip and unexpectedly runs into this woman and he ends up, for all intents and purposes, capturing her. He loads her up and takes her to his home where  he shows her off to the family. You’ve never seen a show and tell like this.

The interesting spin on The Woman is that she really isn’t the bad guy you are led believe. Yeah, she’s a feral woman who is caught in a time warp from the hunter-gatherer days. The Woman is more of a two-part component that revolves around the feral female while focusing on the lives of the Cleek family. Chris is a successful country lawyer, he has a wife, a son, and two daughters – the perfect nuclear family.

That’s actually where the real horror begins – at the house. Behind the facade of a mild mannered “average” American family Chris rules his family with an iron fist. He mentally and physically abuses the women of the family, while his son has developed some of his characteristics. Like Father, like Son.

Its in this complete shift of focus that The Woman truly excels in its horror. Yes, there’s a feral woman who has been tied down, but the Cleek family is also “tied” down – the metaphors are pretty striking. Besides it being extremely violent, another thing that The Woman has been criticized for, is its misogynistic views toward women. I don’t really think it’s fair to say that the film is misogynistic – that just happens to be how one or two of the characters are written. Not only that, but have those critics even seen or know who Lucky McKee is? Other than Quentin Tarantino, he may be one of the most consistent feminist filmmakers out there. All of his films have strong female characters – The Woman is no different. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that the misogynistic tone carried throughout the film is a necessary one, because it makes you root for the feral woman. She’s just waiting to be unleashed – and it will be a bloodbath of epic proportions.

On a technical level, The Woman looks great and I’m glad they went old school with the special effects make-up design – it’s been a while since I’ve seen actual blood and guts be spilled. One thing that I did not care for was the use of music. During certain scenes and edits some lame indy rock tunes would start playing, and I just felt that it wasn’t necessary. I do understand what the director was doing with the music, but I just didn’t care about the selection used.

Pollyanna McIntosh is awesome as the woman, and Sean Bridgers as the piece of dog crap husband and father nail their parts down hard. I haven’t hated a villain like I hated Chris in a really long time. Pollyanna is pretty damn scary, too – she is not one to mess with.

The Woman opened in limited release this past Friday and debuted on VOD. In addition to that, the UK Blu-ray will be released Tuesday October 17th. For those that have a region free player and need their fix (like me) in high definition, that may be the way  to go.

I wholeheartedly recommend The Woman!

Final Thoughts