"BRAID" // TRIBECA 2018 REVIEW
The experience of sitting back and watching Mitzi Peirone’s hypnotic horror thriller BRAID is about as close to fully tripping out without having to do any illegal drugs. Or even any legal ones. This hallucinogenic thrill ride is one of the craziest, trippiest, and most beautiful experiences at the festival this year. The style of the film is very intoxicating. The story is so bananas that you simply stop trying to keep up or make sense of anything because, quite simply, rarely any of it does make sense. Characters simply do things. Forget motivation. They’re going to just do them. But if you can throw your common sense out the window for a bit, you just may have one hell of a time.
Two friends, Petula and Tilda (Imogen Waterhouse and Sarah Hay) deal drugs in New York and are having a grand old time. But after a bust gone haywire, they must flee the town, elude the police, and escape their pissed off dealer. Their plan is simple: they end up heading to their childhood friend Daphne’s (Madeline Brewer) mansion of a house and steal everything she’s got. So, they can have enough to really skip town proper. But doing this ends up not being easy at all, as they are forced (well, kind of forced. They sort of just do it) into a twisted role-playing game that all three girls used to play as kids (these are three kids I am VERY glad I didn’t know growing up). The main rule is simple: last 48 hours and walk away with the money. And that’s really where it stops even sort of making sense.
The role playing takes a lot of gruesome twists and turns and why they don’t just kill her and run away with the money is never addressed. What is address is a lot of purple, pink, yellow, and bright and crazy hued scenes straight out of Wonderland. You are at the Mad Hatter’s tea party here and all three girls take turns being in charge, being a prisoner, and being screwed over. A lot of the actual “story” is maddening if you think about it. But the movie seems to know that and not care. This film is meant to be an “immersive, check your common sense at the door and come trip out with me” experience. And all of the actresses are game, giving fully crazed commitment. BRAID is certainly not for everyone. It’s not even for most people. But I guarantee that if you give it a shot, you haven’t ever seen anything quite like it.
VERDICT: SEE IT (With strong reservations if you're not 100% "in")