Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon - Review

 

After virtually redefining the vampire film with her film debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour (“The Bad Batch”) returns to her twisted, low-budget, fantasy roots with “Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon,” a hazy nightlife fantasy adventure set in the heart of New Orleans with a very specific point of view.

The film follows a young woman referred to as “Mona Lisa,” played by Jeon Jong-seo (“Burning,” “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area”) who escapes from the mental hospital she’s been at all her life into downtown New Orleans. There she meets an eclectic bunch of characters, like a drug dealer named Fuzz, played by Ed Skrein (“Deadpool,” “Alita: Battle Angel”) and stripper Bonnie Hunt, played by Kate Hudson (“Almost Famous,” “Glass Onion”), all while being chased by police officer Harold, played by Craig Robinson (“This is the End,” “Morris from America”).

Amirpour injects a fantastic flavor to this neon-soaked nighttime adventure. Even for its small budget, the overall style to the tale and how its shot helps to overcome a lot of the inherent low budget limitations. It doesn’t completely escape them, as a handful of scenes feel rushed and thrown together, but that doesn’t mean they’re lacking in the film’s distinct perspective.

Jong-seo is fantastic as Mona Lisa, thoroughly unsettling when the film needs her to be, but also easy to sympathize with and engaging. She’s a delight the entire way through, as is without a doubt the biggest reasons to see the film. Robinson is good but falls back into the same kind of “determined cop” persona we’ve seen countless times. Skrein is similar, as Fuzz can’t help but feel like the same kind of quirky drug dealer character seen time and time again in movies like this.

Winslet, meanwhile, plays Bonnie with a really interesting and engaging edge. Her attitude and general apathy towards the world are interesting to see transform after meeting Mona Lisa. She isn’t a necessarily redeemable character, but she’s one of the film’s most interesting. Her son Charlie, played by Evan Whitten (“NEXT,” “Words on Bathroom Walls”), is another interesting character. It’s fascinating to watch his dynamic shift with his mother versus Mona Lisa; Charlie is clearly a boy who’s had to grow up fast and watching him transform over the course of the film in really interesting.

Unfortunately, the film’s fantasy nature and it’s generally loose plotting does result in something that feels longer than it is. It’s not that the film drags or has poor pacing necessarily, but that it’s the kind of movie that is so dependent on atmosphere that it can just feel incredibly slow. It’s deliberate for sure, but its other strengths aren’t able to overcome that. The musical score, from composer Daniele Luppi (“Magic City,” “Feriado”), is a definite highlight though.

“Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon” isn’t going to set the genre on fire like Amirpour’s last horror adjacent fantasy film did back in 2014, but its still chocked full of characters that are well acted and fantastic to watch. It’s certainly more atmospheric and loose in its overall plot than most will like, but if for nothing else, Mona Lisa and her devilish smile are reason enough alone to watch. 3.5/5