a review of 无面人

2021 CULT MOVIE CHALLENGE WEEK 10: GEORGE ROMERO WEEK Hoo boy. I'm still not entirely sure what Romero was really trying to say here, but as it is it feels like a less-inspired entry in the very '90s subgenre of privileged white men running amok. The "blank" makeup on the main character is an interesting visual metaphor for social alienation, but the whole thing feels pretty undercooked, with a script that feels like a first draft that somehow got filmed, and performances (even with the always-watchable Peter Stormare as the coked-out boss from hell) that feel like initial table reads more than actual characters. Done well, these kinds of stories can be a real spotlight on what we would today refer to as white male fragility, but here Romero treats the main character's vaguely-defined "nice guy" vengeance trip as catharsis in a way that feels both unearned as well as vaguely exploitative of the disaffected white boys in his audience.