Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE FACE OF HORROR [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]
The ideal of old school Technicolor is bathed in sword and sorcery epics. “The Face Of Horror” works on the auspice of an old kabuki play but has certain ponderings that filter into the uncanny valley of AI. Edward (Jonah Hauer-King) is a knight who is lost in his own importance of trying to become higher than his station. From the get go he commits murder in the name of his righteous rights as a man. Isabel (Kristine Froseth) loves him as his wife though she sees his rage and his cowardice in retrospect for ambition. Director Anna Biller sees female rage in the follies of men for good reason. All the women here are not good by any means but the men are the scorns of the devil, even as they hide behind the church. Isabel’s sister protects herself more but is still seen as an object of lust. The colors are beautifully done with that old school 60s luster that imagines life with a kabuki thrust so all the acting is overplayed as is the style of place with tragic campiness that paints the guilt of the man who committed it.
But like "House Of Asher", which was more politically minded, this is more sexism related as the staged element of the dialogue especially within the kabuki scenario moves in a patriarchal thrust (which here is done matter-of-fact but not quite tongue-in-cheek). The ritualistic spiritualism is of course key but mixed with medieval feudal constructs, it keeps it away from the supernatural beyond the curse of the women scorned. The Catholic imagery of crosses is also specifically constructed to play off the context of Christianity and women's place in it. The camp element of it is simply meant to overplay the drama while still being entertaining. In the theater, both sides of the equation were laughing highlighting the futility and backwardness of the stories being told (i.e. the satire). Both leads here do overplay it but when it hits a certain wedding scene it takes on a different intent because Edward's manipulation is complete even if it is of himself. The use of the title is perhaps misleading (or not). It is called "The Face Of Horror" which plays to the beauty myth which is what does Isabel in but also show the wall of masculinity and masking of Edward that overcomes the path and threatens the route to love, which never quite comes to be. 82%/B/B-
By Tim Wassberg
