The Beguiled: Review

I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest Sofia Coppola fan. Lost in Translation is one of my favorite films of all time but other than that, I find her work rather annoying and underwhelming. The Beguiled, fortunately, is one of my favorite films from her and one of my favorites from this summer. It features what is quite possibly the best ensemble from a film all year with Oona Laurence giving one of my favorite child performances of the year and Nicole Kidman being the best she's been in years.
The original Beguiled is a fun if not really a dated piece of 70's exploitation. Here, Coppola packs a hell of a punch with every beautiful picturesque frame. The photography is the definition of lush and seductive. At a runtime of only 94 minutes, the pace never misses a beat and I was always kept on my toes with how unique the tone of this film is. It's a little bit of horror, mixed with a dark romance, and an especially weird sense of comedy. The campy tone from the original is kept and makes this film so so much better because of it.
The month of June has been full of wonderfully fresh films. This week alone I saw films like Baby Driver and Okja that proves creative forces in Hollywood are still strong and making a place for themselves. Sofia Coppola just proved that you can still make a remake feel really damn fresh. Moody in the way that Coppola always is and packing way more tension than I ever expected. (8.5/10)

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