Fresh (2022)

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan team up for a very dark look at dating, relationships, and what's on the menu for dinner. The horrors of modern dating are seen through one young woman's defiant battle to survive her new boyfriend's unusual appetites.

I've got to be pretty vague on a lot of this, because this is best approached from an unknown perspective. This begins with a mild commentary on the online dating scene, and then transitions into something much darker, where they examine greed, desire, and even privilege. Daisy Edgar-Jones as Noah is relatable and sympathetic because of how she trusts and longs for connection.

When the story transitions and she has to become resourceful, she pulls it off very convincingly, and in a way that makes us wonder if she's just playing along or maybe she's genuinely taking part. Sebastian Stan is doing his best to show that he can be more than just Bucky Barnes from the MCU. When you combine this performance and Fresh with his role as Tommy Lee in Pam and Tommy, this helps him to step out and embrace a much more complex character named Steve.

Steve is surprising at times, and I love how in a weird way he's also longing for connection just like Noah, and he's also searching for someone who understands his worldview. This movie is almost two separate stories that are then smashed together. The first is the dating journey of Noah as she tries to find somebody who's normal and a good companion.

Then after Noah and Steve meet and then go on some dates, the entire tone of the story shifts gears and becomes a very suspenseful and anxiety filled visceral horror. And the transition isn't out of the blue in the sense that we can see something shift.

The second half of the film is twisted and disturbing, not only from the actions and the imagery, but also just the concept alone. It's pretty messed up. There are some parts that are brought to light in the second half of the film with some imagery and short sequences of random people.

For these, even though there's a very brief explanation of them and their role, I felt that there was more in the story that could have been examined when it comes to this portion, especially as it could become a very powerful social commentary. But there are story arcs that take us on some small tangents. Those tangents really are necessary, though, to make the story feel whole.

In addition to our two leads, Noah has a best friend played by Jojo Gibbs, and I loved what she brought to the story because in a tale of modern dating where the main character is maybe a bit too laissez faire with her actions, she needs a best friend who's going to shout some wisdom at her.

The horror in this is visceral, and there are some points in this that could make you throw up a little bit in your mouth. I remember watching this and having to just really put our plates down and stop eating for a bit because my mind was making what I saw on screen just feel way too real. I loved how tense the climax of this got.

There were some heart pounding moments. And while I expected some of the situations that were happening, there were then a few that came out of the blue and were pretty great surprises. The sequences were able to successfully build good anxiety because of the urgency that the story creates for our characters.

Fresh is a twisted take on dating and relationships. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan create some compelling chemistry that then transforms into something twisted and dark. The suspense and tension are effective, and then when combined with the visceral imagery, they all work together to make a pretty messed up horror.

I do wish there was a little more focus on a couple of the elements if the intention was to include a social commentary. But even without that, this is still a satisfying watch that also might make you wince.

Images from IMDB