'Rare Beasts' Review

 
NRRuntime: 1 Hr and 40 MinutesProduction Companies: Singer Films, Western Edge PicturesDistributor: N/ADirector: Billie PiperWriter: Billie PiperCast: Billie Piper, Leo Bill, David Thewlis, Kerry Fox, Toby Woolf, Lily JamesRelease Date: N/A
Mandy is a mother, a writer, a nihilist. Mandy is a modern woman in a crisis. Raising a son in the midst of a female revolution, mining the pain of her parents' separation and professionally writing about a love that no longer exists, she falls upon a troubled man, Pete, who’s searching for a sense of worth, belonging, and ‘restored’ Male identity.
From a filmmaking standpoint, Billie Piper displays a distinguished expressive vision. Given its short runtime, the film is very fast-paced due to its chaotic, manic, oddball energy. Watching Mandy navigate life as a single mother in the toxic, one-track-minded, male-dominated world where they think through their dicks without any empathy is stress-inducing. Initially, I was digging it. But holy hell was that brief.
Billie Piper’s Rare Beasts intends to describe itself as this anti rom-com of sorts, but its major fault is its confusing and incohesive structure that emphasizes on trying to hit the beats of a rom-com and it comes off shallow as hell. Once its romantic plot is interjected and becomes the central focus, the story becomes rather grating, and this mostly stems from the character of Pete. Pete is written as the most shallow, misogynistic male I think I’ve ever seen in a rom-com. I cringed when he returned and the romantic music swelled, indicating that she was attracted to him after the strong cold open of her leaving a date with him because of the misogynistic piece of shit that he is. Pete is short-tempered, thinks women should stay in their traditional roles, can’t take criticism, physically strikes his partner… need I say more? And through it all, Piper expects you to think that Mandy — who you really don’t get to know much outside of being a stressed out, independent single mom — ends up with this fucking asshole or puts up with his shit for far too long. It’s crazy how spiteful this guy is and the fact that he brews a romance with her makes it feel as if a man wrote it… but a man didn’t write this. Billie Piper did. 
You truly abhor this character and as Piper forces you to be convinced that this woman would even remotely show her nude body to this piece of shit of a dude who never progresses as a character, you start to detest this movie. As far as rom-coms go, the romance between the two feels rushed and the humor is pretty mean-spirited. It fails to please just about anyone. You can’t call your movie an “anti rom-com” when it just dives head first into the standard tropes and goes about them in the most shallow way imaginable. It tries to be clever by attempting to tackle gender relations through cynical dialogue from both parties, but the sexism on Pete outweighs most of Mandy’s flaws. By the midpoint — or, heck, 20 minutes in when she gives Pete another chance — she doesn’t seem like the same character she was established to be in the strong cold open where she’s on a terrible first date with him and she puts him in his place. This is Billie Piper’s script and it’s just so damn incohesive. It fails to be enjoyable on every front  as each piece of its narrative feels like pieces from other better rom-coms. It’s one thing to have aggression, but that aggression should have charm. Just look at Silver Linings Playbook. That is a good definition of an anti rom-com! This damn thing feels like a Richard Curtis rom-com gone wrong. At least at his very worst, Curtis’ works would still have a bit of charm. Each scene feels like pieces from other movies that have no cohesive thread. I get what she’s trying to do, but damn, even some of the most irrelevant movies have a sort of sensical thread for you to follow. Her “twist” comes at the very last minute and  then the film abruptly ends, which left an even worse taste in my mouth, for it ends in contradiction.I love Billie Piper. I truly do. I think she’s incredibly talented and she shows glimpses of potential as a filmmaker behind a camera. As a screenwriter, on the other hand… this ain’t it chief. For an actress best known as a character named Rose, her directorial debut is riddled with thorns.Rating: 1.5/5 | 31%