Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #25. Nicolas Pesce’s Piercing

Piercing

Borrowing from Takashi Miike’s Audition (seminal J Horror film) source material, Nicolas Pesce had time to dress, finesse his highly anticipated sophomore film and boy did he deliver with what comes across as a Cronenberg’s Crash like love story featured in hotel room spaces rather than car wreckage and works as an homage to a plethora of influential filmmakers including De Palma and the Giallo set. Featuring Mia Wasikowska, Christopher Abbott and Laia Costa, The Eyes of My Mother (read review) helmer has a bright future ahead.

Based on Ryu Murakami’s 1994 novel of the same name, Abbott plays a man who kisses his wife and baby goodbye, seemingly headed away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service and kill an unsuspecting prostitute. His plan is thwarted by the alluring and mysterious call girl (Wasikowska) who arrives at his room, leading to a pulsating game of cat-and-mouse. Cinematographer Zack Galler, editor Sofía Subercaseaux and Art Director Naomi Munro (It Comes at Night) provide a unified front for the tech folks on the project. Update: Having caught the world premiere screening, we can confirm Pesce’s skill-set — we thought it was a stellar genre exercise pimped out in candy colored aestheticism and fun dynamic between the co-leads.

Release Date/Prediction: This was selected for the Midnight section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and had its international premiere at the Rotterdam Film Fest.