PLUSH (2013)

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Emily Browning, Cam Gigandet, Frances Fisher, Xavier Samuel, Brandon Jay McLaren, Dawn Olivieri
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: M18 (Some Sexual Scenes and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 October 2013 

Synopsis: After losing her band mate and brother to a drug overdose, rising rock star and married mother of two, Hayley finds herself in a downward spiral. The new album from her band, Plush, is a critical and commercial disaster, but she finds hope and friendship in Enzo, the replacement guitarist who inspires her to reach new creative heights. When their collaboration crosses the line, Hayley retreats from Enzo's advances. As Enzo's dark and troubled history is slowly revealed, she begins to fear what she has invited into her home.

Movie Review:

Catherine Hardwicke has been somewhat of a difficult filmmaker to pin down. After her well-acclaimed breakout of a teen movie ‘Thirteen’, she went on to the critically panned ‘Nativity Story’, on to the first movie of the ‘Twilight’ series, and then to the middling reinterpretation of ‘Red Riding Hood’. And yet despite a rather uncertain filmography, her stories have always gravitated towards placing a young female protagonist at its core, a trait which she continues in the twisty thriller ‘Plush’ set in the world of rock music.

The heart of her tale lies with Hayley (‘Sucker Punch’s’ Emily Browning), the front-woman in the titular rock band who finds success earlier on in her teenage years with her guitarist brother Jack (Thomas Dekkie), settles down and has kids with a crime journalist Carter (Cam Gigandet) in her early twenties, and then is hit by depression when Jack dies from a drug overdose. All that in fact is mere backstory, laid out by Hardwicke and her co-writer Arty Nelson in a lengthy prologue as she relates the vicissitudes of her life to an interviewer on the eve of the launch of her new album.

Billed as a psychosexual thriller, ‘Plush’ instead takes off with Hayley launching her comeback alongside new guitarist Enzo (Xavier Samuel), the latter proving to be quite the enigma which the narrative exploits at different turns. Starting off as Hayley’s creative muse, Enzo quickly becomes someone else altogether - initiating a torrid sexual affair that includes rubbing himself against her while she’s intoxicated, directing her in an S&M music video, and inviting himself to be part of her family. It’s a tale of obsession all right, with an ending pitting Enzo against Carter and Hayley that you can probably see coming.

There’s nothing especially interesting about this particular tale, set as it may against a musical backdrop, and indeed one wonders why Hardwicke bothered with such a familiar B-grade story. Not even with the provocative elements of sexual kink and psycho horror does the storytelling get any bit more exciting, and much as Hardwicke might have pushed her leads Browning and Samuel to certain lengths, she lacks the conviction and indeed the sheer audacity to pull off a truly lurid picture the way a male director like Paul Verhoeven or Brian de Palma might.

Thankfully, Browning’s gutsy performance makes up for some of the movie’s failings. Displaying much more range than she did in Zack Synder’s ‘Sucker Punch’, Browning dials in a more than convincing portrayal of a flawed individual in both her desires and insecurities. It’s a role that calls for a gamut of emotions, and Browning succeeds in pulling it off most of the time. Ditto for Samuel, who blends sexy and dangerous into a seductive mix that will draw you into his character. Gigandet however is largely sidelined in a one-note character as the faithful unfailing husband whose trust in his wife is ultimately betrayed.

Try though the actors do, you’re still likely to find ‘Plush’ a letdown. Sure it does pack in some kinky scenes with leather and straps, but the tease rarely leads to any real lasting erotic tension; nor for that matter does its supposedly psychological undercurrents of lust and obsession amount to any genuine menace. Pity that this was supposed to be Hardwicke’s return to the kind of edgy indie stuff that kickstarted her directing career - it’s hard to think how ‘Plush’ might restore any of the cred she’s lost over the years. 

Movie Rating:  

(Some edgy performances barely save this perfunctory and surprisingly juvenile psychosexual tale of lust and obsession)

Review by Gabriel Chong