TLDR: Fresh (2022)

No doubt its reputation precedes it.

Hulu

Plot: Frustrated by scrolling dating apps only to end up on lame, tedious dates, Noa takes a chance by giving her number to the awkwardly charming Steve after a produce-section meet-cute at the grocery store.

Direction: This is Mimi Cave’s feature length debut and she kills it. Sorry for the pun, but seriously, her work here is excellent. This is a hell of a swing and she pulls it off. Horror directed by a woman is so rare — it’s great to be able to recommend something exciting and fresh (sorry again!) like this.

Screenplay: Maybe it’s a little tropey, maybe it’s a little predictable — but what is horror without those things? It works well enough for me.

Performances: Hulu darlings Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and Sebastian Stan (Pam and Tommy) have really strong chemistry. For this film to work, it’s really important that their charisma works. And it does.

Cinematography: Pawel Pogorzelski has done some of the best work in the past few years: Hereditary, Midsommar, Nobody. This movie doesn’t require anything too crazy, but he’s still very good at what he does.

Best moment: Everyone makes a big deal of the title card not appearing until 33 minutes into the movie, but damn it works.

Imaginary accolade: Easiest Letterboxd Review Of All Time (examples with spoilers: here, here, and here)

Everything is too long. Is it too long? Just a tad long, I think. Definitely bummed that it kinda lost me, but the conceit alone is awesome and worth it.

Rating: Three cherries out of five.

Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.