Written by Jesus Figueroa
@ThisFunktional
Lionsgate’s thriller MILLER’S GIRL is a magnificent story with a brilliant cast.
A talented young writer (Jenna Ortega) embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher (Martin Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web. As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while straining to preserve their individual sense of purpose and the things they hold most dear.
While so much of this story could become cheesy and predictable, the thriller part of this movie comes through.
Freeman brings a prestige to his role with a vulnerability and humanity that allows audiences to connect and empathize with his teacher. The journey which starts to spin out of control is brought forth subtly.
Ortega matches Freeman’s performance with a slight coy innocence which makes for a unique character trait for a thriller. The character unravels throughout the story with some beautifully timed intensity.
Director Jade Halley Bartlett finds ways to bring in the sets as almost a character. The classroom becomes a place where authority and power becomes flipped, the field becomes a place or change, and the homes contrast to show the major differences between the attitudes and living conditions of the two main characters.
While the story could becomes a simple, made-for-TV, afterschool special with one-dimensional characters which rely on foreshadowing, MILLER’S GIRL does not fall into the mundane storytelling of similar themed movies.
Teacher Mr. Miller could hold all the power and slowly lose it throughout the story, but Cairo always seems to be an equal if not quickly showing to be conniving and intimidating making for an incredible twist from the start.
The worldliness of the older Mr. Miller turns into naivety by the inventive and well read Cairo.
There is no power difference between Mr. Miller and Cairo as each character matches the other, one with experience and the other with fearless curiosity.
The slow simmer is key with such a theme and trajectory of the story.
MILLER’S GIRL’s January 26, 2024 release makes for a great start to the 2024 year of films.
MILLERS’S GIRL
Out In Theaters Now
