DARLING

Mickey Keating is a phenomenon: the film director in his mid twenties who has already made several movies, all completely different from another, apart from all being set in the “fantasy movie” genre, which soon led critics to play down his stylistic exercises as mere derivatives of “real” artworks. On the other hand here’s a young man who has chosen to learn the craft of film making in the field, rather than attending a film school and whose talent is now beyond dispute. “Darling” is definitely influenced by Roman Polanski’s early works; like Catherine Deneuve in his masterpiece “Repulsion” Lauren Ashley Carter’s expressive face leads us through this stylish psycho-horror ensemble. As the eponymous “Darling” she’s asked to look after a sprawling brownstone house on behalf of “Madame” Sean Young. But it is not long until a mysterious locked door and other oddities put the fear of God into the young woman. Keating’s movies are obsessed with behavioral quirks, i. e. he’s constantly challenging the audience with crazy film editing and even crazier sound-design. For this reason the warning at the beginning of the movie “This film contains flashing lights and hallucinatory images” is not to be taken lightly, same as with the movies of Mickey Keating.