Girl in

This movie is really engaging, energetic and, surprisingly interesting. I was cruising around the web after I saw this in Chicago at Indiefest (where it won the Best Feature award) and I found out that it had won some awards at another festival in Los Angeles (my home town, where I had surprisingly missed it).

Technically, "Girl in 3D" is a pretty cool movie. It has a strong visual flair that could easily have overwhelmed the movie and left it a shallow and empty mess. But the performances mostly hold up really well and the story refuses to lapse into the obvious. While I am not sure I am charmed by the ambiguous morality of the ending, at least it isn't entirely hopeless and bleak like so many indie films these days. In fact, the movie is quite funny in its own dark way. Although the glee it takes in its sadism isn't at all like the sickness prevalent in the common slasher film, there is still the possibility that this film is going to offend some with a healthy dose of S&M imagery and scenes of psychological and sexual abuse. Still, the scenes are more powerful for what they do not show than what they do, and the context of the scenes does propel the themes of the film rather than being there to shock for shock's sake.

All told, worth a look for those not too faint of heart, especially if they like a healthy post-industrial, quasi-punk soundtrack. Just don't bring the kids or expect a light romantic comedy.