Elizabeth Banks “The Story of an Obsessed Beautician”

Beginning of the year Skin care productsAustin Peters’ rather clever narrative feature debut, Hope Goldman dominates. The Los Angeles beautician, played by Elizabeth Banks, is launching a line of Italian-made moisturizers, cleansers and serums. Hope is an old-school makeup peddler, and after 20 years of exfoliating some of Hollywood’s most expensive faces, he’s ready to let ordinary people in on the secret. There’s just one problem: A new spa has opened across the street, and its owner, Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Mendez), appears ready to acquire it, sparking a fierce competition.

Skin care products According to an early title card, this is a fictional story inspired by real events. There are some similarities to the one-sided fight between West Hollywood beauticians Dawn DaLuise and Gabriel Suarez. About a decade ago, Da Luis spent time in prison for allegedly trying to incite the murder of Suarez. (A jury ultimately acquitted her.) The details of the actual case remain a tangled web of accusations, hearsay and gossip: DaLuis still insists to this day that she was framed by two stalkers. Skin care productsScreenplay by Peters, Sam Freilich, and Dillin Regan takes cues from this twisted tale to weave a biting and slightly entertaining narrative about fame, reputation, and the obsession with both.

The film takes place in 2013, just before social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok extended some users’ 15 minutes of fame into countless hours. There’s a desperate energy to that period, one that’s captured well here by DP Christopher Ripley’s moody, desaturated aesthetic. The extensive use of close-ups – especially of Hope’s eyes, darkened by dark eyeliner – creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, as does composer Fatima Al Qadiri’s harp (Atlantic Ocean, looking for Mavis Lighthouse) score gives the film a haunting, ghostly quality. In this decade, people’s desire to take advantage of the Internet and indulge in the promise of hustle culture narrowed the distance between their private and public selves. Hope summed up her feelings in a television interview: “I don’t think my life, who I am, and my work are separate,” she said. Angel’s arrival poses a threat not only to Hope’s business, but to her sense of self.

Finding the real hope Goldman Sachs guides most of it Skin care productsa book that follows her through the various stages of her obsession. When strange things start happening to her—a hacker infiltrates her email list and sends obscene messages to her clients; someone slashes her tires—Hope becomes convinced that Angel is sabotaging her. A chance encounter with Jordan (Lewis Pullman), an accomplished life coach, forms an unlikely partnership as the two attempt to fight off harmful attacks on Hope’s business and make her Life is back on track.

Peters handles moving parts Skin care products Efficient. The film rarely gets bogged down in pushing its pace. The introduction of the characters and their backstories are cleverly presented. As Hope’s obsession with Angel grows, it’s hard for him to shake the feeling that trouble is imminent. So, when Skin care products Relax and let the tension go away. The focus on guiding us from one scene to the next robs the audience of the opportunity to revel in the world of the aesthete—to understand the rules that govern this cutthroat industry. Skin care products Share vibe and niche characteristics with Medusa Deluxe Edition, Thomas Hardiman tells a thrilling mystery about the world of competitive hairstyling. In that film, however, Hardiman plunged the audience into a fraught and coded ecosystem, investigating the beautician’s unspoken code in addition to solving the murder.

More curiosity might also lead to insights into other characters. Sure, this is Hope’s world, but what about Angel? Or Hope’s assistant and publicity manager Marlene (an underused Michaela Jay Rodriguez), who at one point reminds Hope how much her life depends on the success of this business? More attention to them could have opened Skin care products A deep dive into Hollywood’s obsession with youth (put this film in conversation with Coralie Farget’s Cannes sensation substance) and generational tensions between old-school and new-school aesthetes. The potential to explore these qualities already exists in Peters’ story. It just needs a little peeling.