Shadows on the Wall | Her Private Hell

Her Private Hell

dir-prd Nicolas Winding Refn
scr Nicolas Winding Refn, Esti Giordani
with Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Diego Calva, Dougray Scott, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Jason Hendil-Forssell, Parker Sawyers, Qyoko Kudo
release US 24.Jul.26,
UK 25.Sep.26
26/Denmark Neon 1h50

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Cheesy and operatic, this outrageously colour-drenched thriller is set in a fantastical future mega-city, and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn overheats everything from the start. Luxuriant sets and costumes, plus Pino Donaggio's florid score, create an extravagant but bewilderingly bonkers atmosphere, as if David Lynch had remade Barbarella in slow motion. The imagery and emotionality keep us interested, especially with such an up-for-it cast, but it's impossible to get involved.

In a grand tower, the vampy actress Elle (Thatcher) introduces ingenue Hunter (Froseth) to the lavish world of her menacing filmmaker father Johnny (Scott) and his new wife Dominique (Liu). But they witness the even scarier Leatherman (Hendil-Forssell) on a murderous rampage. As a mysterious mist rolls into the city, Private K (Melton) is prowling the seedy streets tenaciously searching for his daughter, who was abducted by Leatherman. He also stops to rescue women in distress, taking on nasty underworld thugs. When Elle and K meet, they discover they both share the same dark quest.

So heavily stylised that it almost looks animated, there's nothing remotely grounded about this movie, so it's appropriate that the actors deliver such absurdly arch performances. Thatcher plays Elle as a smart and dubious, fully aware that her life is artificial, while Liu's Dominique and Froseth's Hunter embrace it all. Melton gives K a strong sense of purpose, fearless in the face of danger, because if he's killed he'll be able to find Leatherman in hell. And then there's Calva's seductive interloper Nico.

Random visuals create echoes of a comic book washed in garish colours, primarily pink, blue and gold. Costumes range from leather biker gear to cheap, plasticky space outfits, while the camera meanders through neon-lit streets and brightly curtained rooms. K's ponderous voiceover adds a noir sensibility. And the Japanese imagery and culture stirs in echoes of samurai movies, allowing for some serious sword, knife and axe grisliness.

Yes, this is a heady mix of ideas, images, themes and tones, all of which are achingly cool. But it doesn't hang together in a meaningful way. It also glories in violence and shies away from sex. There are glimpses of deeper ideas, such as in how brutal K can get when pushed into a corner, but the script seems more interested in exploiting this than exploring it. Darkly complex, the relationship between Elle and Dominique takes some thoughtful if wildly melodramatic turns. But most scenes only make us wonder what is going on and why.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 24.Sep.26

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