GIJoel6 Review of A Thousand Little Cuts

A Thousand Little Cuts (2022)

Interesting enough story, tone does not quite match its genre tag

[5/10 · 8 January 2024]

I would not call this a "thriller", at all. It *is* a mystery. The last half hour is played much straighter than the first hour and the result is more impactful. The problem is the first hour also qualifies for the genre tag "dark comedy" due to all the stereotypical portrayals of toxic masculinity. Essentially, the film is about the cumulative effect of the experiences of toxic masculinity on one woman, and her reactions to it. Rebecca Liddiard is interesting and engaging in a nicely layered performance as that one woman. I don't want to say the other actors, particularly the males, gave obviously lower quality performances, but I almost had the sense they were so embarrassed to be portraying those stereotypes that they did not really know how to do it effectively. I think the overall film would have benefited from the men being played straight, instead of as foolish caricatures with no self-awareness, all the way through. At the end of the day, this took on an important topic on a very low budget and provided some interesting twists, resulting in not a terrible film but not above average either. Mostly, it made me want to see more of Liddiard.