How do we know the 2018 film Piercing is set in the 1980s? Is it the poorly animated “Feature Presentation” graphic that opens it and the digitally inserted VHS artifacts during the production credits? Is it the taxis and phone booths? Is it the upscale call girl using a hotel landline? No, it's the blue fox fur stroller, of course.
Piercing – The Film
The movie is about a guy who wants to kill his kid with an icepick. Naturally, he decides the best way to alleviate this desire is to kill a call girl with an icepick instead. Eighties Guy out-of-the-box problem-solving right there. Unfortunately for him, the girl who shows up is a little more challenging to kill than initially planned, and has some ideas of her own.
Piercing – The Furs
Reviews like this are great because they do not involve a lot of effort. Was I supposed to admit that? Nevermind. Meet Jackie (Mia Wasikowska), the only character I have to remember.
Jackie delivers the 1980s to your hotel door. This film not only joins the “80s hookers wear fur” trope club but is only a member because of the trope.
Again, nicely shot and a great example of a fur coat that works well in low lighting. I'm sure a bunch of hack cinematographers cried out she wasn't wearing a black fur coat that read as a formless void.
Piercing clocks in at almost six minutes of fur, every frame of which is a nicely shot blue fox, thus, fashion-wise, cinematic perfection. I certainly can't recommend watching the actual movie, as even in fast-forward, every frame drips with pretension. This is pure arthouse stuff; if that's your thing, go for it. I admit, if you're going to get me to watch arthouse cinema, packing it with blue fox fur is your best bet, so plan your wardrobe budget accordingly.
- Fur Runtime: approx 5:45
- Film Runtime: 81 minutes
- On-Screen Fur Ratio: 7%
Find-a-Fur: Piercing, 2018
(all times are approximate and are affected by the cut of the film)
- 19:20 – 22:55 – blue fox stroller
- 34:50 – 37:20 – ”
- 42:10 – 43:25 – ”