A fairly predictable psychological thriller where a timid and nervous high school girl Maria (India Eisley) is bullied by her schoolmates and gradually exacts revenge by absorbing her sinister alter ego mirror image. Maria’s parents (Mira Sorvino and Jason Issacs) are no help: mother being a repressed, depressive housewife and father a philandering plastic surgeon, who totally fail to communicate with both her, or each other.
It all starts after Maria discovers a hidden ultrasound of twins, and starts to take on the personality of the bolder ‘Airam’, who it seems is her twin that never survived. We are shown flashbacks from Mum Amy’s nightmares and realise that Dad, Dan, thought it was "for the best" that only the "perfect" twin survived. So Mum is ineffectual, and Dad is a cold perfectionist that offers his beautiful daughter plastic surgery for a birthday present when she was hoping for a car…
Dysfunction all around, as her only friend, Lily (Penelope Mitchell) is shallow and deceptive, not rescuing her when she is humiliated at the Prom, and Lily’s boyfriend Sean (Harrison Gilbertson), who seems to be the only one who has any genuine kindness in him - and naturally Maria harbours a secret crush. But all does not end well for the people in Maria’s life, to say the least, and it’s easy to guess who’s going to be on the receiving end of her wrath.
As she becomes more bold in her execution of retribution, her actions as the mirrored Airam become more violent, and there are some nasty results. We are initially willing her on to stand up for herself, but she certainly gets a bit carried away! The wealthy plastic surgeon’s house and the stylish lifestyles of the clearly privileged high-schoolers certainly don’t amount to much happiness.
It’s a decently filmed yarn, about the vengeance of a privileged, intimidated and unhappy teen that you’ll definitely have seen before. But it lacks any real tension, and although the "missing twin" theme is a good one, most of the characters are superficially written. Some are pretty cliched, particularly the high-schoolers. Directed and written by Assaf Bernstein, with some style in the first instance and very little depth in the second; Sorvino and Issacs are somewhat wasted here. But what do you want from a teen tale of angst and revenge? I quite enjoyed it, but I don’t imagine it will make much of a mark.
It all starts after Maria discovers a hidden ultrasound of twins, and starts to take on the personality of the bolder ‘Airam’, who it seems is her twin that never survived. We are shown flashbacks from Mum Amy’s nightmares and realise that Dad, Dan, thought it was "for the best" that only the "perfect" twin survived. So Mum is ineffectual, and Dad is a cold perfectionist that offers his beautiful daughter plastic surgery for a birthday present when she was hoping for a car…
Dysfunction all around, as her only friend, Lily (Penelope Mitchell) is shallow and deceptive, not rescuing her when she is humiliated at the Prom, and Lily’s boyfriend Sean (Harrison Gilbertson), who seems to be the only one who has any genuine kindness in him - and naturally Maria harbours a secret crush. But all does not end well for the people in Maria’s life, to say the least, and it’s easy to guess who’s going to be on the receiving end of her wrath.
As she becomes more bold in her execution of retribution, her actions as the mirrored Airam become more violent, and there are some nasty results. We are initially willing her on to stand up for herself, but she certainly gets a bit carried away! The wealthy plastic surgeon’s house and the stylish lifestyles of the clearly privileged high-schoolers certainly don’t amount to much happiness.
It’s a decently filmed yarn, about the vengeance of a privileged, intimidated and unhappy teen that you’ll definitely have seen before. But it lacks any real tension, and although the "missing twin" theme is a good one, most of the characters are superficially written. Some are pretty cliched, particularly the high-schoolers. Directed and written by Assaf Bernstein, with some style in the first instance and very little depth in the second; Sorvino and Issacs are somewhat wasted here. But what do you want from a teen tale of angst and revenge? I quite enjoyed it, but I don’t imagine it will make much of a mark.
Review by Lucy Aley-Parker.
RSS Feed
