Medusa

A genre film with something to say, and a unique voice with which to say it.

... The satire becomes entirely toothless and badly muddled by magic realism, and the writer-director Anita Rocha da Silveira’s initial target — Brazil’s far-right movement — drifts into the distance.

Albeit lacking in subtlety, this is a stylish film that revels in its ardent political commentary.

It’s flawed and all over the place in conventional script terms, but there’s real interest in this freaky, peculiar, interestingly directed psychodrama satire...

What begins as a punchy, feminine-biting satire becomes fuzzy after the first act. It’s an admirable effort, but an overstuffed, demanding one as well.

Da Silviera’s vision of bubblegum fascism is compelling, and Medusa sucks viewers in right away. Unfortunately, however, the film expends far more effort on aesthetics and world-building than it does on narrative.

It’s the strength between women that binds them together and finds themselves running through the streets expressing their sexual freedom, expression, and feminist rage.

[Anita Rocha] da Silveira embarks upon surreal flights of fancy that invoke the 1960s Cinema Novo movement.

It has everything you want in a film, a twisty plot, a great soundtrack that serves the finest synth-wave, feminine rage, and it’s shot beautifully. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the monstrous feminine.

Pulsing with darkly intense energy, this Brazilian thriller has a fantastical sensibility that's dreamlike. Beautifully shot to wash the night in vivid colour, the inventive storytelling style challenges the viewer to lean in closer.