“Do not feel safe with me”: words of caution when nearing affection, hardly love, from Ronah, the graduate student/sex surrogate protagonist of Anja Marquardt’s accomplished “She’s Lost Control.” Brooke Bloom’s smudged performance is the brooding center of this anxious, chilly Manhattan-set thriller, but Marquardt’s bruised, intent visual style deepens and darkens the moods and alienates the figures of the characters by the moment. It’s the coldest depiction of an inhumane New York City I’ve seen since Lodge Kerrigan’s 1998 “Claire Dolan.” The formal disposition suits the increasingly fraught complications with a needy client (Marc Menchaca) who gets closer and closer despite the boundaries that have been set from the beginning. Resentment, aggression and intimidation ensue. With Dennis Boutsikaris, Laila Robins, Tobias Segal, Robert Longstreet. 90m. (Ray Pride)
“She’s Lost Control” plays May 15, 17, 19 and 21 at Siskel.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
