A Brit director, Michael Pearce, has made a great feature debut here with Beast, a mostly successful psychological thriller set in Jersey. Additionally, you have Jessie Buckley as a restrained and haunted Moll, and Johnny Flynn as the charming although mysterious Pascal. Both make for an interesting pair.
As it is, Moll lives with her dominant mother Hilary (an acid Geraldine James), where events around her birthday build to her meeting Pascal. He offers a way out of her suffocating life, and it’s from there on events turn unpredictable! And with a killing spree happening in the background, we have some reason to suspect Pascal (you’re kept guessing though).
The first few quarters manage all of this brilliantly. It’s only as we move towards the finale though the film becomes unbalanced. If it weren’t for the brilliance of the two aforementioned actors we may lose interest altogether.
As it stands though, I can give attention back to the director Pearce and say he’s done a wonderful job, and the exquisite cinematography feels good too. He and the actors have a bright future ahead.
Mad About Movies 