If you’re looking for a film that brings something fresh to the table, feast your eyes on Julia Docournau’s feature debut, Raw. It’s a coming-of-age story depicting a young vegetarian as she enters the wacky world of college (veterinary school) and all of its crazy antics! And by “crazy antics” I mean cannibalism, of course.
The film gained some notoriety when it was revealed that multiple viewers fainted and vomited due to a particularly graphic scene at the Toronto International Film Festival. On top of that, it’s rumored that about thirty people left the theater at some other screenings. If that didn’t lure me into seeing Raw, I don’t know what else would! But to my delight, the film wasn’t your humdrum shock-fest; at its core, the movie was an amazingly well-crafted and well-told film about the frenzy surrounding adolescence, where the raving battle between the id and the ego runs high, and primal instincts are roused in a soup of muddled hysteria. Am I whetting your appetite yet?
The film maintains a nice balance of hypnotic, ethereal visuals and visceral, lurid shocks. Unlike a vast slew of dumb horror schlock out there (or low-budget “extreme” cinema), this film was especially clever and effective in presenting these images in service of a riveting story, compelling characters, and an empathetic lead, all among the exhilarating and demented twists and turns along the way. Even behind this literal portrayal was a persistent aura of symbolism, making the film much more thought-provoking and artsy than your typical cannibal movie.
Deeply atmospheric, original, disturbing, and surprisingly relatable, Raw is the type of “horror” film that the filmic landscape has craved for a long time. I’m glad that this is getting a somewhat wide release, so if cannibalism is your schtick then check it out in theaters while it still lasts!