It’s okay to make a mess. Adapting Ryû Murakami’s cult novel of the same name, Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of My Mother) deploys a potent arsenal of stylistic tools to tell the story of Reed, a mild-mannered psycho who painstakingly arranges the perfect murder of a prostitute on a trip away from his wife and new-born child. But Jackie is no ready-made victim, and in a strange cat-and-mouse game of empathy, violence, and deception, this oddball couple turn sadomasochism into something resembling a waltz for the wounded. Purposely made to look like a sleazy seventies skin flick, the film’s sense of nostalgia drips off the screen, manifest in everything from the music borrowed from giallo films to the art-deco production design. Alternately alluring and repellent, Piercing is designed to get under your skin.
