With Quentin Tarantino announcing that his next movie will be his last, the race is on amongst young filmmakers to inherit his crown. It would appear that JT Mollner (OUTLAWS AND ANGELS) has such ambitions if his latest film is any indication. STRANGE DARLING, with its non-linear story structure and stylized violence, is reminiscent of Tarantino’s style.

To give a synopsis of STRANGE DARLING would be to give away too much so I’m going to be very careful about what I reveal. The less you know about the film going in, the better it will be. The film is told in six chapters and kicks off with a true crime-style prologue about a serial killer in Oregon that is narrated by Jason Patric (SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL). The story then begins with Chapter 3. A young woman (Willa Fitzgerald, THE GOLDFINCH) is on the run from a crazed man (Kyle Gallner, THE PASSENGER; the SMILE films) with a rifle who is relentlessly hunting her down. The story then jumps backward in time to Chapter 1 where the woman, dubbed “The Lady”, is sitting in a car outside a motel with the man, who is dubbed “The Demon”. The couple had met at a bar earlier in the evening and now they’re about to engage in some kinky sex at The Lady’s request.

You might imagine where the story goes after that but you would be wise to throw all your assumptions out the window because that’s exactly what Mollner, who also wrote the story, wants you to do. With each chapter, STRANGE DARLING takes twists and turns that no one would see coming. It’s a wild and often very bloody roller coaster ride that clearly tips its hat to Tarantino’s films.

Does it work? On the whole, yes, thanks to the film’s two relatively unknown leads who give it their all. As each chapter reveals more information about these characters, and new characters are introduced, including an aged hippie couple masterfully played by Ed Begley Jr. (TV’s ST. ELSEWHERE and BETTER CALL SAUL) and Barbara Hershey (the INSIDIOUS films; BLACK SWAN), the foundations for what we believe are true get more and more shaky until they crumble altogether in the film’s final chapter.

Interestingly, the cinematographer on STRANGE DARLING is Giovanni Ribisi, who may be best known to audiences as Frank Jr., the younger half-brother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) on TV’s FRIENDS. (Phoebe was the surrogate to Frank and his much older wife’s, Alice’s (Debra Jo Rupp), triplets.) Although Ribisi has had experience directing music videos, this is his first time shooting a feature film. He and Mollner had met at an ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Awards event and they quickly found kinship over their shared love of film stock. Indeed, even before STRANGE DARLING’s prologue starts, audiences are told that the movie was shot using 35 mm film. Ribisi also shares a producer credit on the film.

STRANGE DARLING opens in Hong Kong cinemas on Thursday (December 5^th). It’s already available on some streaming services too. It’s not for everyone but if you can handle the violence, its worth seeing because JT Mollner may just become the successor to Tarantino’s crown.

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