When a girl goes to get an IUD implanted by a distant relative, he commits a deranged act which has deadly implications for those close to her.

In Marla (2019), also known as Marla Mae, we see the eponymous character, played by Lisa van Dam-Bates (also director and screenwriter), battle her way through some intercourse-gone-wrong scenes. It starts with Marla working as a waitress at a restaurant/bar with her boyfriend, the only likeable character. As Marla wants to get an IUD implanted, but it’s out of her economic reach, she is contacted by a doctor friend of her brother whom offers to give her one for free. Even if Marla’s boyfriend is suspicious of the doctor’s kindness, Marla doesn’t think twice about it and goes to her scheduled appointment. Once there, the doctor implants the device in Marla’s body, or so she thinks. One night, Marla decides to verify the capacity of the device by having a night of passion with her boyfriend. Unfortunately for both of them, the night turned red with the blood of Marla’s boyfriend; during the act, he begins to have internal bleeding until his body explodes. Marla doesn’t understand how it happened, but she’s still a person of interest as the police see the case as a crime.

There’s not much to say about Marla because it doesn’t have much to tell, except for a worthy bloodbath that happens every 30 minutes in the film. The concept is interesting but the way it’s executed seems to be the less convenient. It’s a story that could’ve been fresh if it had enough factors to make it relevant y coherent. Its main problem is the lack of adherence to its plot; it constantly derails itself to give deepness to the main character’s emotions.  It’s not bad to do so; it’s not my call to put someone’s feelings to shame. But it is unnecessary to demonstrate her feelings when the character is still an empty shell.

Even when the characters lack a distinctive profile, the actors do enough to make them stand and make them their own. Then again, this could be given the fact that all the characters are emptier than a bottomless barrel. Even for the antagonist, there are no motives for his actions. Was it an experiment or was it just for fun?

Marla is not a regular film because it doesn’t have a regular plot or a regular character. It tends to get cringey along the development of the story but, at the same time, it develops as slow as it can, turning the film into a tedious projection of a good idea.