Damsel
NETFLIXThe irony here that Millie Bobby Brown stars as the titular character in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Damsel and yet nobody has realised that it is the audience and viewers that are in distress is unforgivable. Imagine Game of Thrones or The Hobbit without a shred of depth, iconography or weight within its story, and that would best describe the endeavour of Damsel.
Granted, to be fair to Millie Bobby Brown, she is an actress grabbing her future and career by its horns and forging her path. While that path is played a little too simple and watered down against the backdrop of the stifling career of playing the same character on television with little growth, it should be noted that she is continually trying to grow. The problem is that said talent is absorbed in such underwhelming and flat characters and endeavours like Enola Holmes and the Monsterverse – and now Damsel. Each type of performance is never different or distinctive and not shockingly is devised in a type of one-note and safe performance and thus character in an attempted stab at pop culture and desire of being maintained in contemporary cinematic discourse. Granted, to make an easy and quick buck while maintaining a stature within the industry as a performer in a saturated industry is a clever and effective strategy. However, that can only go and grow so far if the levels of craft do not evolve and choices reflect evolution, so far this is certainly not the case, and Damsel effectively gives the game away that Brown is never willing to take that next jump and the reason why seemingly makes no sense with the talent such an actress proposes is left to falter and wain but more on that later,
Damsel is as empty and flat, as uninspired as a feature of this magnitude could possibly muster. For a feature to incorporate a fairytale-like mosaic and texture of female empowerment in an age of submission, only to procure such empty and lifeless creativity and flat inspiration is a sin that can not be forgiven. Yes, it isn’t expected for this to be a force of feminist ideology and exploration but like Enola Holmes (produced by Brown) it signals the most limited and slight influence of what it thinks it is exploring. The result of using these quite poignant themes and doing so little with said execution is that it never packs a punch or feels ever authentic and profound.
However, it is a similar sentiment for the feature in its entirety that is so limited and only ever procures the smallest most insignificant amount of texture whenever possible, be that narratively, tonally, thematically, or conceptually. All of the components of Damsel are ill-nourished and severely lacking in creating a feature that says anything but the limited depiction on screen. Elements that discuss womanhood, submission, and empowerment all the while in a fairytale-like narrative are really interesting and intriguing components only to be lost and silent throughout the running time. It is all just flat visual storytelling that has no texture, no lineage and no self-exploration to make this story have heart or most importantly soul.
Damsel is best described as having Game of Thrones of The Hobbit at home but even then the homebrand version might be a little off but at least suffices in purpose. This is more so underwhelming and pointless. Granted, it does flirt with tone and depiction but is so heavy-handed in both that no nuance or artistry is left to provide substance. Be it the terror of the dragon itself, being utilised in a said manner as impacting as it is in-fact underwhelms the impact said the choice has in the second and third acts in suspense and tension. Even more underwhelming is the feature’s iconography with costume and set design genuinely horrid, but most certainly said monster design feelings like screen test 2 for the HBO graphic designers. Nothing has an inch of weight or favour to make it feel substantiated or feel as if it has a heartbeat.
For a director who is quite akin in visual and thematic terrors in horror with the severely underrated 28 Weeks Later and Intruders, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo showcases little flair beginning the camera. In the same month of announcing 28 Years Later, with both Boyle and Garland being widely toted as returning, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is left and more so forgotten behind this atrocity. And while Fresnadillo is at the time in a better position within his career after being in the NETFLIX model, who are the set-pieces of those that have truly prospered in such a partnership?
That being said, back to Brown to end all this off. It becomes all the more apparent when a headstrong and incredibly talented twenty-year-old thinks they knows which way the wind blows, and while all this at the moment feels prosperous and exciting, it does not bode well for a career in which is in desperate need to push away from being the NETFLIX star child and showcase the talent that is screaming to get out. Look, nobody is expecting Brown to pop over and work with Larry Clark or Lars Von Trier, maturity and levels do not come with the expectation and need to sexualise or physically and psychologically demean oneself. But for a performer of which money is now no problem and the world at large, Brown can choose and evolve as she sees fit but by not choosing projects to grow and work with the very best and abstract of filmmakers, only to work with friends and play it safe might turn out to possibly be one of the most disappointing choices of her career not only in trajectory but to maintain mainstream success. At this very moment in time, it remains just a possibility but Brown’s output of meandering and flat output only gives credence and reality to such disappointing possibilities.
