'Raw' Clip Shows Off A Scene From One Of The Best Movies Of 2017
Saying that a movie is one of the best of the entire year when it's only January may seems downright foolish. Irresponsible, even. But if Raw had come out in 2016, it would have made my top 10 of the year and would have made an already great year for horror movies even better. I loved writer/director Julia Ducournau's new coming-of-age cannibalism movie when I saw it at Fantastic Fest last year and I'm already eager to see it again. Movies about people eating other people aren't supposed to be this honest, heartbreaking, and in-tune with the anxieties that accompany leaving home for the first time, but here we are.
A new clip from the film has arrived and you should watch it! And then you should actually go see the movie so we'll have something to talk about.
This clip comes on the heels of two new trailers, both of which sold the movie's gruesome tone and uncomfortable violence without telling you what it's actually about. And Raw is about this: young Justine (Garance Marillier in a remarkable lead performance) arrives at veterinary college and has a really bad time learning how to fit in. And then she starts eating people. But before that, her and the fellow first-year students get hazed in the most dramatic fashion imaginable, as seen in the scene below:
While the film's violence is what grabs the headlines (someone allegedly fainted when it played at the Toronto International Film Festival), it's the quiet moments between the bloodletting that make Raw a great film. As I said in my review:
Just as startling as the bursts of violence that punctuate Raw's plot are the intimate details, the tiny slice-of-life moments that are as uncomfortable as they are relatable. Marillier is a revelation as Justine and her struggle to discover an identity is funny, embarrassing, and mundane in ways that will hit home for everyone and anyone who has moved out of their parents' house. The great strength of Raw is that every choice, even the ones that will turn stomachs, feels rooted in reality. It's all about those little moments – a disquieting conversation with a professor, bad decisions made at a party where the alcohol flows a little too freely, dancing alone in your bedroom while you try out a guise you're too afraid to put on in public. Justine's bumpy voyage of self-discovery is shown in excruciating detail and Marillier captures every emotional hiccup with quiet sadness.
Raw arrives on March 10, 2017. Prioritize this one.
Everyone in Justine's family is a vet. And a vegetarian. At sixteen she's a brilliant student starting out at veterinary school where she experiences a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her family principles and eats raw meat for the first time. Justine will soon face the terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge...