Queen of Earth (2015)

Ha Haaa.Really? More than 6 points rated? This film is a complete NONSENSE.You are watching it and waiting for something interesting to happen and....nothing happens.So you want it to finish to be finally surprised and astonished by some twist in the script....but ....it never comes.The dullest film I've ever watched.And I've watched many,many ones.(Sorry about my bad English.I am writing from Argentina) So sorry I recommended this piece of sh.... to my daughter (after seeing the plot sumary in Netflix) and we were both looking each other and laughing because we couldn't believe such an awful movie had been made.Terrible waste of time.1 / 10

Fmovies: Alex Ross Perry takes his cue from both Altman's "3 Women" and the films of Ingmar Bergman for this tale of two women in isolation, both geographically and emotionally. "Queen of Earth" finds Catherine, (Elisabeth Moss), and Virginia, (Katherine Waterston), holed up together at a lakeside house after an event in Catherine's life leaves her bereft. Perry shoots it largely in close-up so there's no respite; this is as up close and personal as it gets and both Moss and Waterston are magnificent.

Naturally, it's a very claustrophobic little picture, airless and suffocating despite the sunlight and its deceptive warmth and it's clear from the first close-up of Moss' tear-stained face that stability isn't really her forte and as the film progresses, jumping back and forth in time, it soon becomes clear you wouldn't want to spend time with either of these women.

It's also brilliantly written by Perry in that literary style we've become accustomed to. Indeed, this is one of those films you might actually want to read and it's clear it's not aimed at what we might call 'a general audience', (even more than "Listen Up, Philip" this is 'New Yorker Art-House'), and even at a compact 90 minutes it's a fairly gruelling experience, like being a fly on the wall at someone's psychoanalysis. Consequently, it is both disturbing and a masterclass in acting and the best psychological horror movie I have seen in a very long time.

Queen of Earth is a character study of a depressed woman who unravels following death, scandal, and a break-up. She spends a week at a high end lake side house belonging to a friend.

The visit, which should have been a calm, nurturing respite from her personal tragedies turns into a gut wrenching week. Her friend lacks the patience and empathy to help her heal. Instead she pushes her further into depression and decompensation.

Elizabeth Moss is brilliant with this long, slow disintegration. I could compare her performance to Elizabeth Taylor in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' or Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf.

Katherine Waterston, daughter of the beloved Law and Order actor San Waterston, plays a hard edged, unkind, and self centered rich girl. She is unable to help her friend with debilitating depression. In fact she worsens the situation with her criticism, and harsh comments. She is a slender brunette with Ali McGraw looks. Look for more good work from this actress.

The movie moves slow as a glacier. The visual elements are very simple. The lovely house, the lake, and the faces of the two actresses are the main elements. Extremely important is the music.

The musical score establishes the mood, the dread, the tension, the intense unease which characterizes this film. A woman walking down a flight of steps turns into a tense and anxious scene because of the musical score. Another writer/director would have used a voice over to communicate with the audience. Director Alex Ross Perry uses music.

I believe this is only the 4th film by Alex Perry. I think it is a very ambitious undertaking. It is similar in pace and mood to the Lars von Trier film Melancholia. I look forward to more films from Alex Ross Perry.

This is not for every one. It is a very slow and unhappy movie. The characters are not likable. The men are horrid. It is a study of two women and a friendship which is no longer viable. It is a study of a woman who loses her grip on reality and has no one to help her. It is an excellent film with a brilliant performance worthy of an Oscar by Elizabeth Moss.

Queen of Earth fmovies. 'QUEEN OF EARTH': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A psychological thriller flick written and directed by indie filmmaker, and actor, Alex Ross Perry. It tells the story of two childhood friends, that reunite at a lake house, as adult women, and find out they no longer feel close. The movie stars Elisabeth Moss, Katherine Waterston and Patrick Fugit. Perry and Moss were also producers on the film, along with Adam Piotrowicz and the very prolific Joe Swanberg. The movie is very impressive, stylistically speaking, but it's also a little bit of a mess, from a dramatic storytelling point of view.

Catherine (Moss) and Virginia (Waterston) are two women, who were very close while growing up. They've continued to reunite, every summer, at a vacation lake house; owned by Virginia's family. Over the past few years, they've started to grow apart; and became very bitter towards each other. Their recent relations with men, have really driven the two to a breaking point; as Catherine also starts to lose her sanity.

The movie is very beautifully shot, and the music is haunting and very memorable; with a classic (and very campy) B movie feel to it. The film is played out like a thriller, but it's actually more of a dramatic character study; and it's an excellent examination of female relationships (and mental illness) as well. Moss and Waterston are both really good in the film, and Perry's direction is excellent. It's not a perfect film, but it is a memorable one.

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Greetings again from the darkness. Friendship doesn't just happen. It requires constant maintenance along with give and take from both sides. When a long time friendship between Catherine and Virginia devolves into a passive-aggressive game of emotional "tag, you're it", the result is an unusual psychological expose' on self-indulgence and grieving.

Writer/director Alex Ross Perry follows up his critically acclaimed LISTEN UP PHILIP with a glimpse into the complexities of friendship between two women who seem mostly clueless to both their world of privilege, and their not-so-subtle narcissism. Both Catherine and Virginia have experienced personal tragedies at different times, and their friendship has basically crumbled due to the responses of each woman towards the other.

A startling opening scene serves up a very emotional Elisabeth Moss (Catherine) as she and her boyfriend (Kentucker Audley) argue their way through an ugly break-up due to his infidelity on the heels of the suicide of Catherine's dad and mentor. The rest of the movie covers the week (each day marked by a scripted placard) that Catherine spends with her best friend at Virginia's (Katherine Waterston, Sam's daughter) family lake house. Flashbacks cover the previous year's visit under much different circumstances, but it's the intimate Â… and often quite uncomfortable Â… moments between the two women that provides the crux of the film.

Director Perry focuses a great deal of attention on the faces of Catherine and Virginia – many of these are extreme close-ups that leave thoughts unspoken, yet quite clear to the viewer. There are elements of 1970's schlock horror films … but not in a bad way. The music, atmosphere and camera angles have a certain retro feel, but the tension between the two friends is palpable and timeless.

Perry's script and the performances of Moss and Waterston tap into that nasty bit of human nature that makes us believe our problems are much worse than anyone else's. Building on that, the animosity felt when our friends aren't "there for us" in times of trauma, can lead to a dangerous slope that affects judgment and mental stability. Watching Catherine and Virginia go at it has elements of truth and dread.

Patrick Fugit appears in a few scenes as Virginia's neighbor, and his sole purpose seems to be to torment Catherine – at least that's how she sees it. The juxtaposition of the two visits (separated by one year) makes for some very interesting character observations, and helps us understand the delusions and bitterness. It's an interesting and stylish little film that doesn't so much entertain as spur introspection.

So, I really wasn't a fan of Alex Ross Perry's last film Listen Up Philip. That's all I have to base him on. I felt there were a few redeeming aspects going for it, but generally it was an unpleasant experience. It's biggest redeeming aspect? Easily Elisabeth Moss. She played Philip's recovering ex-girlfriend with such tender vulnerability that Perry's ineptitude as a writer and director couldn't get in her way. She makes the film worthwhile when the film could have easily chopped off her subplot and remained the same. Though to clarify, her performance is good, her story is a drag. In theory, Queen of Earth was the perfect next move. A focused movie letting Moss let loose with the unhinged side of her character from Listen Up. And yet, it went so wrong. Someone must have hurt Alex Ross Perry bad. The only thing he has to thoughtlessly spray about people are mean-spirited bites with absolutely no finesse. I don't mind cynical films or characters, but not when they bring absolutely nothing insightful to the table. It's an ugly spite that dives into the unpleasant side of unpleasant people without essential epiphanies.

Instead, Perry has his 'queen of earth' blame everyone else for her problem sans any hint of irony. It's far too self-serious and unsatisfying. It's lazy writing when the backstory is much more interesting than what they're showing on screen, especially when its many flashbacks refuse to divulge into it. It's not necessarily a clumsy film, but it's a very pretentious in its composition and rhythm as if it's the next Persona or 3 Women. How many minuscule scenes do we need of the two leading women walking by each other tensely in a room? I'd like to say Katherine Waterston saves it in a co-leading opportunity, but in Perry's hands she's worse than Moss. I forgive both actresses and Patrick Fugit, but the material they had to work with is so petty and flat, never probing into deeper human needs, only superficial selfish desires that have no third dimension. I could kind of get into it at first, the opening prologue shot for example is very compelling, but it just never finds its way from there. At least its photography isn't quite as incompetent, though Perry is trapping me in his closeups again. It makes Listen Up Philip look well developed in comparison.

5/10