Michael Pearce’s “Beast”

Beast (2017)

Jessie Buckley’s feature film debut is potent in this beautifully shot, challenging and twisting psychological thriller

Always interesting and with a sustained suspense and discomfort, “Beast” twists and turns with terrific lead performances from Jessie Buckley in her feature film debut alongside Johnny Flynn. Playing like a noir fairytale of sorts, it tells the story of Moll(Buckley) who lives on Jersey under the controlling influence of her mother(a chilling Geraldine James) whose life is changed by a chance meeting with loner Pascal(Flynn) as the isolated community in which she lives grapples with a series of murders of young women.

Beautifully shot with cinematography from Benjamin Kračun, the film is quite coy about to whom or what the title refers. Motifs of earth and sea are peppered throughout with a real sense of place and as we try to put together the clues, we’re constantly wrong-footed. Can we rely on the perspective through which we’re seeing the story through Moll’s eyes? Did things that happened actually happen? What parts of the puzzle are we missing?

Overall, it’s a strong and confident first feature that makes the most of its extraordinary leads.