Beauty

A striking yet erratic piece of work, Beauty follows Deon Lotz’s Francois as he’s forced to confront his basest desires in the days after a friend’s wedding. Filmmaker Oliver Hermanus kicks Beauty off with a hypnotic opening shot that pans across a busy reception and finally zooms in on one particular attendee, with the scene proving quite effective at foreshadowing the events to come and setting the stage for a deliberately-paced character study. Hermanus similarly does a superb job of peppering the movie’s first half with unexpectedly mesmerizing moments, including Francois’ arrival at a meeting within a stranger’s kitchen – with the nature of the gathering kept secret until the last possible moment. It’s a suspenseful interlude that triggers the film’s shift into a slow-moving character study, and there’s little doubt that the viewer’s curiosity into where this is all going proves instrumental in initially compensating for the less-than-eventful atmosphere. It also doesn’t hurt that Hermanus’ captivating visuals are often heightened by Lotz’s stirring work as the central character, with the narrative’s deliberateness ensuring that Francois ultimately does become a fairly vivid figure. But there does reach a point at which Hermanus’ laid-back modus operandi becomes somewhat problematic, as the film’s taut stretches are inevitably outweighed by interludes of an overlong and needless variety. And although the director offers up an admittedly (and impressively) startling climax, Hermanus’ reluctance to end the proceedings on a timely note ensures that the whole thing fizzles out to a rather disappointing degree – which effectively cements Beauty‘s place as an ambitiously uneven effort from a promising new filmmaker.

**1/2 out of ****