Friday, February 12, 2021

Devil in a Dress (2020) 40 minutes of Neo Noir Eye Candy

Directed and written by Sean King.  Produced by  Sean King and Taylor King

Cristiana Daia as Lorena, Nobuaki Shimamoto (Hacksaw Ridge (2016)) as Katashi, Jazz Egger as Sophia, Sean King as Victor, Tony Palmer as Jonny, Brian Pierce as Mr. Murphy, Max Reeves as Death.

Its a simple plot about Lorena a gorgeous Romanian assassin  (on her last assignment) and her Japanese driver Katashi who travel around the City of Angels doing "wet work" (killing various targets on their hit list). Neither of them speak the others language (turn on your English subtitles) so they communicate amusingly by hand gestures and pantomime.  

Cristiana Daia as Lorena

Nobuaki Shimamoto as Katashi

Their marks are contained in a stack of sealed envelopes stored in the cars glove box that list details on their victims and cash. Lorena's striking fashion model beauty stops her un-wary victims in their tracks. 

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A nice little piece to watch for Noir junkies, in looks it reminds me a lot of Jean Luc Goddard's Alphaville. The crisp Black & White cinematography is breathtaking. Los Angeles looks spectacular. 

Cristiana Daia does most of her acting with her body using feline movements, eye rolls and facial expressions. Nobuaki Shimamoto is great as the chronically bored bodyguard/driver. Jazz Egger plays Lorena's lesbian lover. Sean King the director plays one of the victims. 

My only quibble was with the soundtrack. The music was to me a bit too vanilla, too California new age elevator music-ish, but that is just me. The Kings probably where restrained in in what they could do by their budget or they have their own eclectic taste in music. Its a nice example of a good low budget piece of cinematic art. Produced by Sean King and his son Taylor King. Bravo! Screencaps from an Amazon Prime streamer 7/10 

Sean King was born and was raised in Redondo Beach, California. When he was 19 he wrote directed and stared in the feature film "Highways", which was sold to HBO. In 1995 he opened "Imagery Digital, an early adopter of digital editing and sound design.In 2015 he formed New Zealand Son Films with his son, director Taylor King and together they produce television series and features films.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sean King


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