Braid is a Vogue photo-shoot masquerading as a film with pretentious aspiration towards substance. It is a gorgeous locale with damaged, pretty people playing games of dress-up while psychedelically intoxicated. Somewhere the director believes they have made a layered, lynchean film about psychosexual codependency and psychosis, but that’s cover for indulgence and incoherence. Nothing remotely makes sense, ‘twists’ veer into absurdity and the exercise is deliriously style over substance. It is telegraphed not much of the character’s perspective is trustworthy, so the idea becomes to outlast the obfuscation in hopes of some worthwhile payoff. Any such expectation is likely to disappoint. To their credit, the actresses deliver quality performances and the camerawork is often well done. The disjointed nonlinear story certainly conveys confusion and dissociation with admirable aspects to the kinetic camerawork and the excellent use of lighting and color. Unfortunately, for all the quality ingredients going into the construction of this film, the lack of quality in the script fails them all.
Braid (2019)