PERFECT (2018)

Starring Garrett Wareing, Abbie Cornish, Courtney Eaton

Directed by Eddie Alcazar

Written by Eddie Alcazar, Ted Kupper

Distributed by Breaker. 85 minutes. Exclusive VOD launch this Friday on Breaker.io

The last project we saw from director Eddie Alcazar can best be described as a mental mind f*ck, and that’s a compliment. His 2016 short film and Vimeo staff pick, FUCKKKYOUUU, revels in elements of grindhouse horror and experimental absurdity. While Alcazar’s first narrative feature, Perfect, may be toned down a notch or two by comparison, it still maintains its predecessor’s ambitious and mesmerizing visuals and meditative look at reality.

Produced and scored by Flying Lotus and executive-produced by Steven Soderbergh, Perfect is stylized sci-fi at its wildest. After the murder of his girlfriend, a young man (Garrett Wareing) is sent to a clinic for the emotionally troubled and disturbed. His actions have become uncontrollable and, at the request of his mother (Abbie Cornish), he will be required to stay there until he is deemed “fixed.” Once at the clinic, he is monitored and set to undergo conditioning that will strengthen his body & mind to ultimately reach perfection.

Sounds normal, right? Turns out, this is anything but your normal wellness retreat. At this futuristic clinic, perfection is achieved by literally cutting open one’s body and planting plug-and-play characteristics directly into themselves. These implants will cure him, whose new name is Vessel 13, by using technology to mutate his current perception and free him from his “base animal programming.” But Perfect begs the question, is “perfection” something this world needs?

This film isn’t for the general audience, but neither was it made for them. There were brief moments when Perfect reminded me of Paradise Hills, but luckily that didn’t make me like the film any less or take me out of the dynamic world Alcazar shows on screen. The music montages backed by Flying Lotus are incredibly fulfilling and the minutes’ long one-take towards the end is practically, dare I say, perfect.

Perfect is a bold expression that will be best enjoyed with an open mind; if you choose to watch the film, enjoy the mind-bending visual trip.