my 2nd favourite of mark ruffalo's "sexy facial hair cop" roles 👨🚔

this falls just behind his FOREVER HOT goatee and slicked back hair combo in collateral

sharp objects minus the munchausen and messina! jane campion explores the dangers that tag along with being a woman laden with desire — dismemberment, decapitation, death. though this story isn’t technically true, it mirrors the true crime genre by explicitly showing the aftermath of brutal serial killings, forcing the audience to witness the horrors that men do in fact impart on women’s bodies (oh yeah, i read I’ll Be Gone In The Dark!). 

after watching this and Top of the Lake, i so wish campion (and women directors in general) had the opportunity to do more “true” crime — so refreshing to watch through a non-exploitative lens, never worrying about whether or not the director gets off on the violence. (well ... not to imply that campion doesn’t, because this is definitely more erotic thriller than crime drama. full-frontal ruffalo!)

nothing I want to write about this movie will allow me to keep my job as an English teacher named Fran. anyway, it's so funny that Mark Ruffalo is from Kenosha

"Some women give terrible blowjobs. No rhythm at all. No sense of cock whatsoever."

Worth it for a very naughty Mark Ruffalo.

It's an erotic thriller but it's got a feminine perspective which is quite refreshing. I feel like they don't make movies like this any more but I'm stuck trying to figure out if they ever did. The editing and imagery are intriguing and Meg Ryan is going very much against type. It feels unique.

victim of desire. the trashy paperback erotic thriller stylistically fractured, blurred and discolored into something that feels even ickier; psychologically navigating a world where your pleasure comes attached to the power and perversions of men ("im scared of what i want"), a world where the skin of a lover and a dismembered body part can look very similar.

The FATAL ATTRACTION-style erotic thriller is of course in Campion's hands an intrinsically misogynist construct but what's most interesting is that the conventionally "feminist" romanticism that would normally be considered a response on its own, with those storms of flower petals and purple voice-over poetry, is here equally limiting in its lack of any real aggression. This is a pretty thorough reclamation of female sexual agency that has the good sense to delight in the most tantalizing and frequently silly genre tropes (highlight: dismembered corpse in the washing machine) and even make room for some intentional camp (I'm looking at you, most of Mark Ruffalo's dialogue).

Discussed on Episode 36 of The Suspense is Killing Us.

Never felt the urge to revisit this film until recently, as it’s reputation has shifted. On a plot level, it’s still dumb as a box of rocks, no more dignified than the average sexy thriller that were a dime-a-dozen the decade before. But now it’s clear that no history of this subgenre could be written without it, and I felt a newfound appreciation for its explicitness and audaciousness as an allegory about how women have to navigate the world of men, in all its volatility and violence. Have to love Campion for lighting fire to studio money. YOLO!

I must admit In the Cut is an aesthetically ugly film—drenched in a greenish hue, it looks like early-aughts James Wan trying to be David Fincher. But knowing the looks of Campion’s other films, I have to imagine the ugliness was an intentional attempt to give the film’s New York setting a seedy veneer. This is not the concrete jungle where dreams are made of—instead, it’s a New York where leering men lurk at every corner (including a stalker-ish Kevin Bacon) and women are murdered and dismembered. Perhaps Campion was making a statement about the ugliness of the genre itself, as erotic thrillers too often leer at women with lascivious cinematography and dismember them—if not literally as murder victims then figuratively, by filming women's body parts in a context-less vacuum.

I wrote about this for my column over at Broadly.

+ Meg Ryan
- Cast (in order of appearance) is actually a huge spoiler

A brilliant departure from the costume dramas Campion made her name with, this is a sleazy thriller full of sex and melancholy. The leads are great and Kevin Bacon shows up in a MAGA hat. My only objection is a generic one to do with all these nineties erotic thrillers. The dilemma he/she might be a murderer/but they’re great in the sack struck me as no dilemma at all. Especially because it’s a trope that the characters are promiscuous so they no there are more opportunities to have sex with none murderers out there.

I know it wasn’t well-reviewed but Campion’s films are very watchable to me. Great visual style and the three lead actors offer fine performances, Meg Ryan’s notable for going against her brand. The plot creaks and with cliches, holes, and corny coincidences, but is self aware enough of those cliches and flaws to temper them somewhat.

rose guessed the killer and I didn't so a win for the female gaze. also an interesting companion with my neighbours the yamadas with its recurring song.

Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffallo as I’ve never seen them before. I settled into it once I got over the grimy colour way.

mark ruffalo's moustache.

i'm a fan.

A horny hot mess of 00s music video style filming with full frontal Mark Ruffalo.

no rhythm at all
no sense of cock whatsoever
not my cup of tea

Campion is so good at pulling apart the intricacies of female agency and desire.

how does this only have 32% on RT lmao