Six is the devil number, so it is fitting that Alex Ross Perry's sixth film is about an obsessed / possessed / unhinged musician. There are gaps in this man's filmography I need to fill in. But I really liked Listen Up Philip and was mildly amused at times by The Color Wheel. For me, this film, the third A.R.P. feature that I've seen, falls into that high-7, low-8 zone wherein I find many, many movies exist. Bolstered by a haunting score composed by Keegan DeWitt, Her Smell excels when Elizabeth Moss is losing her mind (which is, thankfully, much of the movie). Moss is a star here. She makes this film. Her HUGE performance and the overall frantic pacing makes the auxiliary characters feel underwritten, which is not necessarily anyone's fault. The main complaint here is this: Films based on fictional musicians/band are among the toughest to sell because the music? Come on now. That was the hit song? There are rare exceptions (That Thing You Do! The Righteous Gemstones) but this passes the smell test regardless.
Review of Her Smell
Her Smell
(2018)
Elisabeth Moss passes the smell test, the music in this? That's another story
26 November 2019