20131117: Horror Review---Compulsion

Compulsion

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 88 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 4.0/10.0 from 999 audience ratings.  Spoken word is English. Estimated budget 4 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Score Yet...' and 17% like it from 266 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 11,200 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Egidio Coccimiglio.
6. Starring: Heather Graham as Amy, Carrie-Ann Moss as Saffron, Kevin Dillon as Fred, Joe Montegna as Detective Reynolds.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Amy and Saffron live near one another.  If the blinds are open, they can see into each other's apartments.  As the picture starts, Detective Reynolds is looking into Saffron's disappearance.


2. Through flashbacks, Reynolds learns that Amy and Saffron knew each other somewhat well.  Amy is an aspiring TV cook, while Saffron is an actress and a commentator for women's magazines.  The rise and fall of the romance between Amy and Fred is detailed.  After that fails, Amy tries to get closer to Saffron.


3. As Amy's obsession with getting a cooking show continues to fail, Saffron's acting career keeps gliding downward.  After her breakup with Fred is well on its way, Amy continues to try to get closer to Saffron, who remains standoffish at first.


4. Amy insists on Saffron's trying her dishes, but Saffron is a bulimic who smokes.  More than once she barfs up what Amy has more or less force-fed her.  Amy loves Saffron's old movies, as does Amy's mother.  Saffron slowly warms to Amy. 


5. We have a flash back to Saffron being casting-couch raped as a child star when the director who did it wants her to audition for a new role.  So, that opportunity was another dead end.


6. Amy and Saffron get to know each other after that; how well does that turn out?


3. Conclusions
1. Canadian remake of the Korean film 301/302 from 1995, where 301 and 302 are apartment numbers.
2. One line summary: Two compulsive women have an affair that ends badly.
3. 6/10


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Simply gorgeous.


2. Sound: 10/10


3. Acting: 8/10 The two leads were fine, as were Joe Montegna and Kevin Dillon.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 The content misses the mark in a lot of ways.  Amy's cooking obsession is over-abundantly clear, and loses some focus because of that.  Saffron's trying to hold onto her place as a young star is rather sad.  She does not make the adjustment to mature roles, which is unfortunate since studios show interest in her for middle-aged roles.  Intellectually, anyway, it's clear what either of them should do, but they don't do it. This backdrop dulled my interest in the lesbian affair and in the missing persons investigation.  The screenplay was by far the worst part of the film.  There is too much repetition, and it is too slow going forward.