Review of Raw

"Raw" (aka Grave) is a starkly visceral, disturbing, and downright Cronenbergian coming of age metaphor artistically wrapped in a wonderfully nightmarish fugue of imagery and music. It is also easily one of the the better films in the genre that both manages to indulge in the elements that often marginalize it while redeeming them with a loftier artistic goal in mind. By the film's culmination you'll not only have been thoroughly disturbed but also properly illuminated about the dangerous line we walk to fight our inherent natures.

The story follows a virginal innocent (a veritable lamb, the imagery would suggest) called Justine who is going to college alongside her older, more experienced (and somewhat rebellious) sister. Justine has been brought up by strict parents, among whose personal tenets is an almost zealous adherence to vegetarianism. It is not long after Justine gets to college, and introduced to the rigorous hazing of her peers, that the convictions she's been raised with are challenged. This begins with the ritualistic consumption of an animal's kidney which, cowed by the pressure, she eats. Having opened the flood gates, the experience raises a ravenous craving for flesh in Justine that soon proves uncontrollable and consumes her personal world and those around her...literally, at times.

And therein lies the brilliance of the film. Brilliant score, beautiful cinematography and direction aside, the film is a nasty but effective metaphor for the quick downward spiral that we fall into in our formative years when we give up our convictions under the guise of exploration and lose our "innocence" by pursuing our true, dark nature. That the film manages to be subtle and artistic with this parallel while it simultaneously washes you in gruesome body horror is an admirable feat all of its own.

"Raw" is a post-modern cautionary tale of the highest order. The story and visual language speak of the talent of writer/director Julia Ducournau and shine a light of hope on what she may have to offer the genre in the future. Whatever the case, "Raw" does a lot of legitimize horror as a genuine art. Excellent. 9/10