Film Review: Piercing

One of the best feelings you can get is being floored by a work by a filmmaker that you have previously underestimated. I liked Nicolas Pesce’s debut, the meditative, black-and-white horror film, The Eyes Of My Mother, but I didn’t totally love it. However, with his latest film, Piercing, he does things I didn’t realize he was capable of, or even interested in, for that matter. It’s a bright, vibrant throwback to giallo films and other psychosexual Euro-thrillers from the 1970s. It’s an unabashed homage, utilizing the tools and techniques of its inspirations, even to the point of playing music from films like Deep Red, Tenebre, and I believe I also heard some The Red Queen Kills Seven Times in here as well. It’s obsession with the genre plays almost like Tarantino-lite, and I do mean light, as the film clocks in at a lean and mean hour and 22 minutes.

The premise is simple enough. Reed (Christopher Abbott) leaves his family for business, and checks into a hotel. Although, he has a very different kind of business in mind, as he has meticulously planned out his routine for calling in, and eventually killing, a prostitute. One does make their way into his room in the form of Jackie (Mia Wasikowska), and it seems like things will go exactly as he planned. Except, with Jackie, he stumbled onto someone who is far more than he bargained for.

Pesce is adapting the novel by Japanese author, Ryū Murakami, who is probably most well known here as the guy who wrote the book that was later adapted into Audition by Takashi Miike. That little factoid should be enough to understand the kind of movie you’re going to step into. Granted, it’s not as gory as Audition, but it does deal in some really rough imagery, especially as it digs into the past of the two main characters, and the trauma that they’ve experienced, and how it informs them and their bizarre, semi-erotic interplay.

Abbott has always had this subdued intensity to his performances, and it’s used to great effect here, but what comes across as surprising is his pitch perfect comedic timing (something we’ll probably see more of in his upcoming role in George Clooney’s Catch-22 miniseries). There’s a sequence early on where he mimes out his planned murder, making sure he gets it all right and within a reasonable time frame, and it plays like extended physical comedy as his timid, quiet nature contrasts with the brutality he plans on committing. Wasikowska has always been an unpredictable performer, and it takes a while before you fully get was she’s doing here, and even when a reveal happens, elements are still shrouded with mystery. She always brings small details with her glances and mannerisms that put you on edge.

While the film might be a tad too indulgent for some, I found Piercing to be a total delight. It’s a wild ride that blurs the line between varying tones ranging from sad to horrific to comedic to weirdly sexy. It knows its limitations as a pastiche genre exercise, so it keeps things simple, but satisfying, and never wearing out its welcome. There’s a strong command of its style, some beautiful and creepy imagery, and the two leads are terrific. I never would’ve imagined Nicolas Pesce had something like this in him, and if he has this kind of range as a filmmaker and storyteller, I can’t wait to see what he does next.