I'll say SPOILERS just in case, but I'll try not to include any. Just better safe than sorry.
I like to find elements of other films in newer ones so in this case I would say The Perfection pays homage to Black Swan and Whiplash. Now, while this film does not really contend with the caliber of those two Academy award winning films, what puts it in common is the desire of the teacher to infect perfection, and the desire of the pupil to have perfection be infected on them. It's an interesting and intriguing concept that does work very well in the psychological horror genre. Granted, Whiplash was not considered a psychological horror, the borderline insanity of the instructor could convince one of such.
The Perfection establishes the notion of wanted to be perfect and the pain of being replaced when not. Much like Black Swan, you see the turn of the "replaced" with the naivety of "the next best thing," the insane lengths at which the former wants to bring the latter down, but the motive then becomes the turning point to create a brand new characterization of what was once believed to be the antagonist. The realization is shown a bit hastily, with a visual headache inducing "rewind" series that almost pays homage to Darron Aronofsky again with his visual cuts in Requiem for a Dream. But if you can get past that, the story moves along with its new turns fairly well. The bad guy is not who you think.
Others on here may be unsatisfied because the film is not what the trailers probably made you believe it was going to be, or that the film was too predictable and my response to those two points would be: if a trailer makes you believe and lures you in with one thing, and the film shows you something completely different, how is that such a bad thing? I would think good storytelling is when multiple points can be approached within the same story, and not to mention that then if the trailer wasn't deceiving, then of course the film was predictable as most films then could be from just their trailers. In 2019, especially in the horror genre and if you have been exposed to most psychological thrillers/horrors of the last 30+ years, most are predictable because there's only so much you can really do anymore in storytelling. It's how the audience is brought to that conclusion that's intriguing.
The closest thing this film was to perfection was its own title, but it's subject, characters, and twists were what kept it somewhat original and for that effort, I give it 6/10. Don't expect much, go into it with an open mind, and let yourself decide.
I like to find elements of other films in newer ones so in this case I would say The Perfection pays homage to Black Swan and Whiplash. Now, while this film does not really contend with the caliber of those two Academy award winning films, what puts it in common is the desire of the teacher to infect perfection, and the desire of the pupil to have perfection be infected on them. It's an interesting and intriguing concept that does work very well in the psychological horror genre. Granted, Whiplash was not considered a psychological horror, the borderline insanity of the instructor could convince one of such.
The Perfection establishes the notion of wanted to be perfect and the pain of being replaced when not. Much like Black Swan, you see the turn of the "replaced" with the naivety of "the next best thing," the insane lengths at which the former wants to bring the latter down, but the motive then becomes the turning point to create a brand new characterization of what was once believed to be the antagonist. The realization is shown a bit hastily, with a visual headache inducing "rewind" series that almost pays homage to Darron Aronofsky again with his visual cuts in Requiem for a Dream. But if you can get past that, the story moves along with its new turns fairly well. The bad guy is not who you think.
Others on here may be unsatisfied because the film is not what the trailers probably made you believe it was going to be, or that the film was too predictable and my response to those two points would be: if a trailer makes you believe and lures you in with one thing, and the film shows you something completely different, how is that such a bad thing? I would think good storytelling is when multiple points can be approached within the same story, and not to mention that then if the trailer wasn't deceiving, then of course the film was predictable as most films then could be from just their trailers. In 2019, especially in the horror genre and if you have been exposed to most psychological thrillers/horrors of the last 30+ years, most are predictable because there's only so much you can really do anymore in storytelling. It's how the audience is brought to that conclusion that's intriguing.
The closest thing this film was to perfection was its own title, but it's subject, characters, and twists were what kept it somewhat original and for that effort, I give it 6/10. Don't expect much, go into it with an open mind, and let yourself decide.