The 2023 film, Beautiful Friend is, in a word; unsettling. Auteur Truman Kewley brings this disturbing vision to life almost by himself. Kewley is: Producer, writer, director, editor, cinematographer and casting director. Kewley is what I call a Robert Rodriguez filmmaker. Michael Kewley co edits the film. *
He does it all.
The film is an intimate and upsetting look at the beginnings of a sexual predator. A cast with just three players, the almost claustrophobic nature of the film makes this one to “sweat to.”
The Cast
Adam Jones is Daniel.
Alexandrea Meyer is Madison Richards.
Ranen Navat is Madison’s brother.
The Story
Daniel, a social misfit who desperately wants a companion, goes hunting. He is an internalizing predator in training. Daniel tells himself he is tired of being lonely and just wants someone to love.
He films every step of his heinous journey, bar the end.
Why this works so well
Daniel’s is meticulously taping (recording) his victim’s conditioning. It is all too reminiscent of the Leonard Lake and Charles Ng killings. Over three years, the two predators indulged themselves. Videotaping their victims being raped, murdered and tortured. *Check any true crime website and they will be mentioned.*
Daniel fits the profile of serial sexual predators very well. We can easily believe he owns a copy of The Collector by John Fowles. *The Collector is found to be in most serial predators’ possession. It is a story of a man who keeps a young woman captive in his basement. It seems to be some sort of “primer.”*
Despite the fact that Kewley opts to keep the violence to a minimum, along with nudity and sexual scenes, we feel the suspense and our horror rises with each frame.
Beautiful Friend shows us just how predators justify their actions and beliefs.
The performances
Adam as Daniel gives us an almost slackjaw “mouth-breather” performance. His breathy narration puts us in the right frame of mind almost immediately. The amount of control he exhibits is a more than “sane” performance in the film. He “out Rookers” Michael Rooker a’la Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer here.
No bloody rants here. Just that breathless narration that seriously creeps you out. All the while he gives us the Popeye chant of “I am what I am.”
Meyer is spot on as the victim. She rings the changes in terms of character arc and switch-hits extremely well.
Kudos to both performers for their very intimate and shuddery dance. This is one that will make you think long after the film fades to black.
The Verdict
Beautiful Friend is a shaky 4 stars. Shaky because the manifesto of the kidnapper/predator will make you shudder as will the performances.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.