162. Marlina The Murderer - In Four Acts; movie review

MARLINA THE MURDERER - IN FOUR ACTS
Cert 15
93 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, sexual violence, injury detail

This is the season where we recover from the fall-out of the Oscars and indie gems begin to sprout like spring daffodils.
Therefore, in between bunkum such as Pacific Rim Rising and Unsane, there is a seam of quality represented by movies such as Marlina The Murderer - In Four Acts.
Yes, those behind Mouly Surya's film do not appear to have been concerned by the need for a snappy title.
They were more focused on the creation of a film which I can best sum up by conjuring Clint Eastwood meeting David Lynch and then bumping into Quentin Tarantino.
Marlina the etc etc offers the unexpected by the sack load and I guarantee that audiences will experience nothing like it this year.
Based in a remote area of Indonesia where knives are as prevalent as guns were in the wild west, it stars    the terrific and deadpan Marsha Timothy as Marlina in an Eastwood-style role for the modern age.
Raiders, led by a gobby rapist (Egy Fedly) pick on the wrong target when they alight upon the farm of the beautiful but inscrutable widow.
Surya's film combines an old-fashioned western, complete with Fistful Of Dollars-style soundtrack, with some surrealist Lynchian moments (for example,  there is only passing comment about a dressed corpse propped up in Marlina's living room for the entire movie).
But the picture has a stronger thread that many of Lynch's in that Marlina is set on Eastwood-style revenge while wanting to hand herself in to police after her dirty work is done.
Meanwhile, strange characters offer a string of unrelated tangents along the way.
Both Mrs W and I were entranced by Surya's film because of its originality, humour, acting quality, music and beautiful landscapes.
It is also admirably well executed.

Reasons to watch: Eastwood meets Lynch meets Tarantino
Reasons to avoid: The violence is sporadically shocking

Laughs: Four
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8.5/10

Director quote: Mouly Surya: "I myself did not grow up watching westerns, but I studied the genre at film school. The one I remember the most is Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch. Marlina is more in that vein than the classics or spaghetti westerns."

The big question - What is it really like as a lone woman in such a remote home?

Share this post