MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
2 out of 5 stars

add this one to the “peter travers, you mislead me AGAIN!” list because although i thought elizabeth olsen (lil’ sister of MK and ashley) did a great job, i didn’t think the movie was all that great... basically, some bitch decides she doesn’t want the cult life for her anymore and flees. she thinks she can just de-program herself by living with her estranged sister and husband, but adjustment doesn’t come easy... :O (:O = a sarcastic surprise-y face)

“marcy may” is the name given to martha when she decides to live on a farm with the head cult guy patrick. we never find out HOW she gets to the cult farm or how she even knows patrick, but after 2 years living in the catskills, she decides to run away. she cuts through the woods, finally sits down to eat at a diner, but one of the guys follows her... he tries to convince her to come back, but she turns him down and phones her sister lucy (an excellent sarah paulson) to come pick her up. lucy lives at her lake house with her husband ted (hugh dancy), and they let her stay with them for the time being. there’s a lot of flashbacks to martha’s cult life i.e. swimming nekked at a nearby waterfall, the “cleansing” (ugh...disgusting), and her involvement in B&E crimes of neighboring wealthy homes... martha can’t seem to get a grip on who she is, what “normal” is, or what’s happened to her, so of course, she starts wigging out... REALLY BADLY. and lucy and ted have no idea what to do with her... :/

although this film has received many accolades and such, i wasn’t too impressed by this one. it started out OK, was progressing fine, but the end killed it for me. open-ended?! really?! plus, i feel like if she’s really wigging out and losing it, shouldn’t it have been more like black swan and the lines between reality and her cult life becomes blurrier and blurrier? however, acting wise, i have a feeling elizabeth olsen is starting to become indie film princess soon? (EXCELLENT job in this one)  following in the career footsteps of naomi watts, i see... ;)