DARLIN'

A feral girl finds succor at a Catholic girls’ school

This is the third standalone film of a trilogy about wild females, all featuring statuesque Pollyanna McIntosh as The Woman. Pollyanna dives into writing & directing here and the film is proficiently made.

I’ve only seen the previous one, “The Woman” from 2011, and I liked the first hour or so, but the last act left a bad taste. Like this one, there's a hint of dark humor so you can't take the proceedings too seriously, but with themes of slavery, cannibalism, torture, domestic violence, rape, incest and murder, that flick just didn't know when to stop. "Cat People" dealt with some of these way back in 1982 and was significantly more effective and entertaining.

This third film is better in some ways, but worse in others. Lauryn Canny shines as the protagonist and the theme of natural instincts vs institutional conditioning is interestingly explored. Yet I didn’t like the dubious places where the movie lands ideologically. For instance, society’s pressure to mold young women into clean and intelligent “good girls” is criticized with the contrasting option of being a dirty homeless cannibalistic murderer. You tell me, which is more preferable? The flick suggests that the true monstrosity is the hypocritical religious leader but compare what he does and what The Woman does. Neither is good, of course, but which is more monstrous? And which scenario better prepares young women to be functioning and fulfilled people enjoying a long life in any society on Earth?

Then there’s the super-virtuous male nurse (if you know what I mean) that’s glaringly forced and smacks of using cinema for social engineering. Get real.

Lastly, I found myself giggling under my breath at the way the titular character tended to get down on all fours in the first act when she would've known well before the age of 16-17 that it was easier and more natural to stand up and walk on two legs to survive in the wilderness... or anywhere. Also, The Woman & Darlin' are feral females who have spent most (or all) of their lives living in the wilds and yet they somehow didn't know enough to create some kind of crude footwear or garments to cover key areas of their bodies, even though it's frickin' winter. Why Sure!

It runs 1h 40m and was filmed in 2018, shot at St. Francisville, East Baton Rouge Parish and parts nearby in Louisiana. From the license plates observed, the location is supposed to be somewhere in Ohio.

GRADE: D+