It all starts with a scene of an old woman lying death on her bed and her daughter, Charlotte Willmore, sitting close to her in a look of anguish and despair. Then we learn that Charlotte was a prodigy cello player when she was a young girl and had to leave a brilliant future behind to take care of her sick mom...
After her mother dies, she found herself lost, without a purpose in life, and gets back in touch with her musical mentors, Anton and Paloma, who are surprised and seem happy with Charlotte's return to the musical scene.
Meanwhile, a new star had risen from the Bachoff Academy of Music, which is Anton and Paloma's school and also the school were Charlotte had studied. That new cello star is a girl named Elizabeth Wells who has been touring the world under the guidance of Anton and Paloma.
Soon after her return, Charlotte meets her successor Elizabeth, they seem to get along really well and they even get a chance to play together in front of a small audience... the girls end up dancing together, having a few drinks (and some more) and, thus, the viewer is led to believe that a love story will unfold between the two of them.
When Elizabeth asks Charlotte to accompany her on a short holiday trip, things take a turn for the worse. It's at that moment we realise that Charlotte was scheming an attack against Elizabeth all along and that attack, which is meant to ruin Elizabeth's career, seems to be driven out of jealously.
Up to that scene, the film seems pretty banal and nothing really original.
IMDB Link: The Perfection (2018) by Richard Shepard
We're already guessing what comes next: Elizabeth's revenge upon Charlotte. And that is exactly what happens... except that a dark twist is coming and there's more behind this tale than what appears to be at first.
In fact, the story is far from over with Elizabeth's revenge. The new angle on the story turns this flick into a very original one. Without that chapter it would have been just another movie, very far from perfection.
We get the feeling that Charlotte might not be as crazy as she sounded... and what comes next not only explain her behaviour but also leaves the viewer with a sense of justice and closure... and the hatred that had been built against the main character progressively fades as the plot unfolds.
Allison Williams and Logan Browning both delivered great performances as Charlotte and Elizabeth. But I must say, while Logan Browning was good enough, Allison Williams was simply incredible in her role. She made me feel very uncomfortable and I kept thinking she was totally insane. Allison Williams's facial expressions are simply terrific and there's something disturbing about the look in her eyes. 😮
The rest of the cast was also good but they played more secondary roles so their performances aren't as memorable.
The scenery was something I truly loved in this movie, as we get to see both the busiest parts of the Shanghai city as well as the more rural areas of China.
Being a film about two musicians, the soundtrack is filled with good music and the girls play some great classical tunes.
The movie is only 90 minutes long... and I, for one, would like to see some parts of it being further explored, particularly the trip of the two girls through the off-beaten paths of China.
Even though this is classified as a horror movie, I wouldn't call it that. Yes, it has some violent and bloody parts but it's not a horror movie by any means, it's more like a drama and a psychological thriller.
When the movie was about to end, I was getting ready to rate this movie with a very solid 9 out of 10. However, the last 2 minutes disappointed me a bit. I think it was a bit too exaggerated and unnecessary. In my opinion, they pushed a good ending one step too far... and it would have been better to have stopped a moment earlier.
Because of that bizarre ending, I drop my overall rating to an 8 out of 10. It's not a masterpiece but still, it's a really interesting story that will keep you glued to the screen from start to finish. That, you can be sure of. 😉
