Perfect | SXSW 2018 Film Review

Everything, as they say, comes at a cost. The arthouse sci-fi thriller Perfect delves into what could be a future that we are not far from seeing.  Some might say, we are already in the early stages of it.

A young man wakes up next to the dead body of a girl. Panic-stricken, he calls his mother who cannot be bothered with him. Hey! She’s out with the girls and can’t be bothered with this petty stuff. Pshaw! She helps by sending this young man to a clinic of sorts, secluded in a rainforest with notes of futuristic or other-worldly phenomenon. Once he is adjusted to his surroundings, the enhancements begin, leading him down a spiraling path of improvement and destruction.

The first full-length feature from Eddie Alcazar, Perfect brings a unique style of storytelling and use of music. In respect to the score specifically, I don’t remember the music once stopping. Ever. The movie feels like you’re in a constant state of dreaming with some 80s-era sound effects and laser shows thrown in to boot.  With each improvement that is made to “Vessel 13” (the boy or young man is not named, but he is credited as Vessel 13 and played by Garrett Wareing), he has some weird electro-funkified psychotropic trips that alters the way he sees the world and those around him.

The pacing is slow and teases with flashbacks to a more primitive race. Vessel 13 has visions of being a tribal king, or god-like figure, that slaughters others. However, even with these sometimes disturbing images, the movie leaves you wanting more. More answers. More closure. More validation for wading through ninety minutes of synthesizers and whispers.

The film does speak to the obsession our society has today with being perfect. Think about it.  Between prescribed mood-altering drugs, plastic surgery, and the thousands of filters and apps for our phones to make us more desirable, we are not far from this type of scenario. We may not be cutting a square into our face and inserting a clear gelatinous object that arrives at our residence like Vessel 13 does, but this type of treatment may be less science fiction and more everyday life sooner, rather than later.

Unfortunately this is not a dissertation on society-at-large, this is a critique of a film. And in terms of this vision of what is considered Perfect, I paid the ultimate cost: my time.