Beautiful Friend, written and directed by Truman Kewley, is a polarizing feature. Its protagonist/narrator is a socially isolated, young incel who kidnaps a woman. Everything is shown from his point of view and what his victim endures makes for a touch watch.
The feature opens at the outset of COVID. News programs speak of lockdowns and the virus spreading. Then, the film introduces its lead, mostly through his narration. Daniel (Adam Jones) spends the first few minutes of the film railing about COVID and slamming anyone who wears a mask in public. It’s immediately clear that his man has been radicalized and has trafficked in one too many conspiracy theories. He’s a real-life online troll. These opening minutes resurrect some of the worst memories about the pandemic, not only the lockdowns and the spread of the disease itself, but all of the political debates about schools closing down and people masking up. As a viewer, it’s tough to relive those horrid days of 2020, but the film forces us to because it showcases Daniel’s troubled mindset and his extreme response to COVID protocols.
From there, Daniel blathers on about how lonely he is and how women won’t speak to him. Because of this, he takes matters into his own hands, kidnapping a young woman named Madison Richards (Alexandrea Meyer). The rest of the film focuses on her attempts to escape and Daniel’s increasingly severe attempts to keep her locked away and possess her. Through this whole scenario, we do get to know both characters’ life stories a little more, but it’s hard to feel any sympathy for Daniel. He’s extreme from the film’s opening minutes, and there’s also the fact that he kidnapped a woman. It doesn’t matter how isolated he feels. His actions remain deplorable throughout the film, even if there are some attempts to soften him.
The film also lacks enough backstory and justification for Daniel’s actions. We do get glimpses into his past through his conversations with Madison, but it’s not completely clear what radicalized him. Like some other men his age, does he simply feel like an outsider, like the world has left him behind? If that’s the case, it’s hard to have sympathy for a young white male generally, whose plight doesn’t exactly seem all that horrible, at least in comparison to other groups. The film missed an opportunity to explore Daniel’s radicalization. The fact so many young men have veered into extreme far-right politics is a serious problem and has led to increased polarization between young men and women especially. Yet, the film’s address of that very issue is superficial. It’s also likely that the film’s ambiguous ending will frustrate viewers, depending on how they read it. To mention more would veer into too much spoiler territory.
Beautiful Friend is an incel horror movie that’s hard to watch. Though the film confronts some uncomfortable truths, like the increasing radicalization of young white men, it’s a little too flat on character development and builds to a confounding ending.
