Review of Olivia

Olivia (1983)
8/10
Arizona Screaming to the bridge.
14 July 2020
It's hard to understand the negativity around Olivia. Yes it's completely mis-soled as a flesh and fear stalk and slash, it is in fact a sweet love story about a child escaping her damaged past with a bit of horror, social realism and domestic terror thrown in. Of course compared with Crimes Of Passion or Track 29 is lacks thy the fireworks but there are lots of little moments where the camera lingers on bridge lights or the parrots which Ulli Lommel adds to give it a strange stylish flourish. The cast (apart from Robert Walker) are universally great especially Suzanna Love in the title role, even the bit parts are played with utter sincerity and a fair amount of talent. White of the Eye is a similar film which has a much better reputation but Prozzie (Olivia or Double Jeopardy) has oodles to recommend it, in fact it's almost a precursor to David Lynch's Lost Highway without the surrealism. The only criticism, much like Olivia or Jenny, the film doesn't quite know what, or indeed who, it wants to be.
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