Imitation Girl Review: A girl falls to Earth in this enchanting science-fiction story.
Imitation Girl Review
Frightfest is a festival that embraces the dark heart of cinema, but it’s not all doom and gloom though, as Imitation Girl adds some much needed light to proceedings. An alien being (Lauren Ashley Carter) from another planet arrives and imprints on the first image it sees, a model on the cover of a magazine, Julianna (also Lauren Ashley Carter). The alien then finds a home with a brother and sister and starts to learn about life and love. At the same time, Julianna is unhappy with life in her industry and is desperate to escape. After a chance encounter with a woman from her past gives her the ultimate audition opportunity she frantically starts to work towards a potential new life. Everything builds until the two paths cross and world’s collide.
Projects where actors are tasked with playing a dual role are always interesting. There’s always the risk that the characters won’t be different enough and that audiences won’t buy it. Carter does a phenomenal job as both Imitation and Julianna, managing to play them both as two halves to the one whole. As Imitation she’s all wide-eyed innocence, and her relationship with Saghi (Neimah Djourabchi) is really sweet and touching. As Julianna, she’s chaotic, a nervous ball of anxieties and insecurities, her relationships feeling a little harsh and grimy. Playing multiple roles has been the undoing of many, but for Carter it makes a career best.
Imitation Girl Review
Each of Cater’s characters also gets her own backdrop in terms of colour palette. Imitation gets lots of Earthy, natural, neutral tones, whereas Julianna’s is bold, bright and noisy. All visuals are pretty gorgeous, and in a lot of ways Imitation Girl could be viewed as a piece of moving art.
Tonally, Imitation Girl is a very quiet and subdued film. It relies much more on music to get its message across. This works given that Julianna’s dream is to be a musician; the score is almost like her inner monologue, her internal thoughts projected onto the screen. There are so few dialogue scenes that Imitation Girl could almost be classed as a silent movie. The score is breathtaking, haunting and emotive of both Juliana and Imitation’s situations.
Some will argue that this isn’t the right fit for a festival like Frightfest, but they would be wrong. There are some dark issues and themes displayed within, but rather than coming from a place of darkness it attacks it from a place of tranquillity. Realive worked in a similar way last year, and in my opinion, was one of the best of the festival. Imitation Girl is a beautiful, lyrical and meditative piece hidden amongst the guts and gore of Frightfest that will enchant all who see it.
Imitation Girl review by Kat Hughes, August 2017.
Imitation Girl is currently playing as part of the Horror Channel Frighfest 2017 programme.
