KALEIDOSCOPE (2017)
Label: Scream Factory/IFC Midnight
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Rupert Jones
Cast: Toby Jones, Anne Reid, Sinead Matthews, Cecilia Noble, Karl Johnson
This British psychological thriller from brothers Toby (Berberian Sound Studio) and director Rupert Jones really pulled me, we have an awkward middle-aged man named Carl who has recently been released from prison and living in a depressively generic block apartment building. We don't know why he was formerly incarcerated but here he is trying to make a go at life on the outside, he trying to get a gardening business underway, and also making the rounds on an online dating site, where he meets a woman named Abby (Sinead Matthews). The two meet-up and return to his apartment, they share conversation and it becomes very evident that Carl is an awkward guy, and Abby is there for more than just pleasant conversation, she flirts with him a bit, but every time he leaves the room she goes through his drawers and cabinets looking for some thing valuable to steal.
He offers her an alcoholic beverage but does not serve himself, when she questions why he says alcohol changes him, and when she finally coerces him into plying himself with a proper adult beverage he comes to the next day and there's a dead body in his bathroom! On top of that his estranged mother arrives for a visit, so while he navigates the complexities of covering up a murder he must also contend with his overbearing mother with whom he has a deeply fraught relationship with, though exactly why is never really revealed.
The way the story s told is abstract, there are shifts in time and perspective that make a clear delineation of the events near impossible to fully comprehend, leaving us viewers to untangle the labyrinthine web of fractured storytelling. I could see how this would prove frustrating to some who require a more neatly tidies up finale, but I found it compelling and visually interesting from start to finish. If you're fan of well-crafted psychological thrillers with some fractured narrative ranging from Polanski's Repulsion (1965) to Adam Green's Spiral (2007) and all Hitchcockian points in-between I think you'll have a good timer with Kaleidoscope, well-worth checking out.
Special Features:
- The Making of Kaleidoscope featurette
- Working in the Studio featurette
- Keeping Up With The Joneses featurette
- Theatrical Trailer
