![]() Twisted, monstrous creatures comprised of sexual organs and mutilated limbs vomit bugs into each other, exploding and birthing more horrors that dance and gyrate and turn themselves inside out before getting run over by a screaming, skull-faced train made of human skin. Sleepless Beauty even features a bizarre animated segment where the audience gets to share in the things that Mina was being forced to watch, and it was like Terry Gilliam and HR Giger went on a bad acid trip and animated what they saw. These are the same techniques that were employed on real people by the guards at Guantanamo Bay, as shown in the really quite excellent film The Mauritanian. The techniques used to break Mila down were all the more unpleasant because it wasn’t that long ago that I saw them being used in another film. While there’s no actual physical rape in this film, there is still plenty of torture and mental degradation and it’s all the more effective for not being overplayed or sensationalised. Her torments are streamed online to a chatroom filled with anonymous viewers while the two administrators make strange, veiled comments about why they are doing what they are doing and what their end goal is, while Mila’s physical and mental condition both deteriorate as the days tick by. What follows is fifty-some minutes of physical and mental abuse as Mina is pushed to the limits of what she can stand. READ MORE: Original Gangster – Film Review A voice over a loudspeaker informs her that she is in “Recreation” and that there is only one rule – sleeping is forbidden. We then cut to a young woman called Mila (Polina Davydova) who is abducted from her apartment one day, awaking inside an empty boiler room. The film opens with what we are told is a failed assassination attempt on a Russian ambassador. A tip of the hat must be given to director Pavel Khvaleev ( Involution, The Random) and writer Aleksandra Khvaleeva ( III: The Ritual, Involution) for crafting something that is so unsettling on a deeply visceral level. ![]() Ya ne Splyu aka Sleepless Beauty is… a mindfuck? Gratuitous torture porn? Both? It is definitely a deeply, deeply unpleasant and uncomfortable watch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |