Dir: Mirrah Foulkes

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Mia Wasikowska
Damon Harrimen

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Seaside, a small non-seaside town in the middle of the country side. Professor Punch and his wife Judy are performing to an enthusiastic crowd in their local theatre. Professor Punch is the self-acclaimed “greatest puppeteer in the world” and Judy is his glamorous assistant.

The nature of their relationship is blindingly clear from the start of the film when he throws her against the wall and she recovers herself within seconds. It’s clear from this moment that Punch is willing to do whatever it takes to become world famous with his puppet show.

Judy is a strong female character who young people should admire, she is brutally abused by her not-so-loving husband but she manages to take care of herself and gets revenge for the awful acts he bestows on her.

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A standout for me was the original score, composed by Francois Tetaz, it was eery and enticing throughout the entire picture and it suited the themes and style of the film perfectly. The creative elements of the film were also stunning, the costumes were beautiful as were the settings and production design itself. It had a real Burton-esque feel to it which I think director Mirrah Foulkes conjured up beautifully. For a Shakespearean style dark fantasy it really looked the part.

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There is a strong female presence throughout the film, even down to the house keeper being the stronger/more able member of the household staff. It’s a shame they decided to make the slightly curvier female character such a slapstick comedy piece, I thought we might have been past this by now. The young actress Daisy Axon did a fantastic job, portraying the very enthusiastic young character, Scotty, who only wanted to do right by the world that had treated her and her family so badly. I thoroughly enjoyed her moments on screen.

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There were a few flaws within the plot as it really felt like it dipped in the middle. The exploration into the supporting characters wasn’t pushed enough for me, I’d have liked to have known more about the “witches” that Judy ends up living with and delved into their history a bit more.

There was a real ambiguity to the location of the film, as the characters had a huge array of accents throughout. This wasn’t too off putting until Dr Goodtime (Gillian Jones) was brought into the plot, she seemed to change her accent on every line she spoke which seemed to just add to the lunacy of her character. Generally speaking the supporting performances were forgettable, some of them seemed painfully scripted without any natural performance to their roles.

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The lead roles, however, were brilliant. Damon Herriman really blew me away, I’d say he has the ability to become one of the great villain actors of modern day Hollywood. His ability to capture the crazy of his character was incredibly pleasing to watch, similar to that of his performance in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Q. Tarantino, 2019) as the mass murderer Charles Manson. I look forward to what he has in store for the future.

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Throughout the ridiculous scenes of “comedy” and bizarre action sequences, I didn’t know wether to laugh or cry a lot of the time. The poor lady sat next to me in the cinema nearly had a heart attack at one specific moment (if you’ve seen it, you’ll know exactly which specific moment I mean). It was dark, uncomfortable and all round quite twisted but for first time director Mirrah Foulkes I think she just about captured what she wanted to and I can see this becoming a cult classic over time.

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A wickedly theatrical twist of dark comedy and righteous fantasy drama, Judy & Punch won’t be for everyone but it’s worth seeing for the amazing score and stellar lead performances.