Raw
Director: Julia Ducournau
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 1.5
Vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) goes to (the least humane) vet school (in France) with her sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) ... there, she's forced to eat a raw rabbit kidneys as part of some perverse hazing ritual (she's also drenched in blood), which triggers something primal in her: she develops horrific rashes, devours uncooked chicken and even chews up sis' severed finger. I'm sure Ducournau is trying to use the setup to comment on sexual identity (Justine is a virgin before she loses her virginity to, of all people, her gay roommate), sibling rivalry (Alexia devours the gay roommate as revenge) and eating disorders ... except those elements of femininity are only superficially explored and developed: it's anxiety (and the grotesque) without an intellectual component. It doesn't help that most of the characters in this are repugnant ... even 'tolerant' Pop tells Justine he wished he didn't have daughters.
