Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn in Beast.Handout
- Beast
- Written and directed by: Michael Pearce
- Starring: Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn
- Classification: 14A
- 107 minutes
With an eye for arresting imagery and a particularly fine performance from Jessie Buckley, director Michael Pearce makes an impressive debut in this thriller about a rebellious young woman who escapes her controlling family with a ne’er-do-well suspected in a series of sex slayings on the island of Jersey. Buckley is still and seething as the unhappy Moll, and Geraldine James is aggressively nasty as her mother, the all-too-convenient bourgeois villain. But the charming Johnny Flynn ultimately struggles to find the right tone for the boyfriend, not helped by a director who hasn’t quite mastered the rhythm required for his surprise ending.
Kate Taylor