I have JUST finished watching Jack Be Nimble and I'm not entirely sure that I can properly explain it to other people. Which is a bit of a problem when it comes to someone who enjoys writing and sharing their movie reviews. I guess I'll give it a good try, but please be understanding of my confusion.
Jack (Alexis Arquette) and Dora (Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) are siblings who become separated at a young age. Jack ends up living with a horrible and abusive couple, Dora ends up getting by until she becomes involved in a relationship with Teddy (Bruno Lawrence). Things get strange and twisted when Jack and Dora reunite. Jack has killed, and seems happy to do so again, and Dora has tapped into some psychic power that makes things even trickier when she is caught between her brother and Teddy. Oh, and there are four daughters seeking vengeance for the death of their parents at the hands of Jack.
Truly bonkers stuff, but not bonkers in a way that is entertaining and fun, nor in a way that is impressively dark and disturbing, Jack Be Nimble is directed and co-written by Garth Maxwell (with some input from Rex Pilgrim), and it's clear that everyone involved was trying to make something unique and memorable. They manage the first part. I cannot think of any movie that I would mention in comparison to this film, but I just wish that there had been more here to draw viewers into the onscreen world. All you get is occasional strangeness. The characters aren't people you want to spend any time with, every subsequent main plot point feels sillier than the one preceding it, and it's visually dark and ugly throughout in a way that feels more like poor choices made than any artistic style.
The cast don't help, sadly. Arquette isn't given enough to work with, and simply has to look angry and resentful at anyone who isn't his sister. Smuts-Kennedy gets a bit more to do, but her character feels far too passive for most of the runtime. Lawrence is good, perhaps arguably too good in comparison to the rest of the cast, and the material itself.
There’s certainly something to be said for films that are so impossible to pigeonhole, and that is what Jack Be Nimble has going for it. Unfortunately, it has nothing else worthwhile for all but the most curious film fans. Horror movie lovers won’t think it spooky or gory enough, fans of the odd will wish it diverged even further from our known reality, and anyone simply looking to experience something wallowing in strangeness can find it in a hundred better movies I could happily point out to you.
4/10
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