Review: ‘Feedback’ loops Me Too advocacy with grim reality -

Editor’s Note: This review contains major spoilers.

When I walked out of 2019’s patriarchy-burning Black Christmas [review], a film which upends the 1974 original into a fiery cathartic release, a smile curled my lips. The world can be a god-awful place, mucked with bratty toxic white men whining about SJWs and female empowerment, and Sophia Takal’s vision of a cult classic was a welcome delight. I called it “brash and refreshingly victorious” and noted particular story beats which allowed some agency to sexual assault victims. The slasher was both a joy ride and an emotional cleansing – a necessary outlet to cope with the ongoing Trump idiocy and attack on women. The absolute antithesis, Feedback – directed by Pedro C. Alonso, who co-wrote the script with Alberto Marini (La Unidad, Retribution) – seems to advocate for the Me Too movement but also drive a sledgehammer into this grim reality: powerful white men rarely pay for their crimes.

Eddie Marsan delivers a meaty performance, complete with flowing alligator tears, as Jarvis Dolan – a late-night radio host whose topics often brush on politics and other social issues. His demeanor is often stoic, perhaps a bit detached and calculated – his relationship with his daughter Julia (Alana Boden) is lukewarm, at best. With a shifting radio climate, and a previous abduction that left Dolan’s car in flames and a staff terrified for their lives, station lead Norman Burgess (Anthony Head) demands he scrap his old show (The Grim Reality) and re-team with old friend and colleague Andrew Wilde (Paul Anders) for a new venture. Later that evening, two masked killers – Oliver Coopersmith (as Wrecker / Alex) and Richard Brake (as Hunter / Brennan) – storm the radio station in true The Strangers fashion. As details bleed out of their true intentions and motives, the viewer follows a dark, tragic, and winding path that leads to numerous sexual assaults committed by Wilde and – shockingly – Dolan himself.

Shot in one location, the radio station allows for a pressurized claustrophobia, and as the murderers circle like great white sharks to buckets of chum, the tension binds itself to each startling revelation. Questions arise around moral lines, accountability, and the “I’m a good guy” trope. Alonso’s directorial debut provides a necessary conversation about the world, and the 97-minute runtime wiggles right by. Cinematographer Ángel Iguácel approaches the work with a keen eye for normalcy; the frame and color palettes are not meant to be artistic in the art-house kind of way. In fact, it remains raw and simplistic, and the focus relies solely on the strength of the cast. Ivana Baquero (as station intern Claire) gives a heart-rending performance that’ll shake you to the core. Her moments, flittering between teary vulnerability and throat-choking rage, command every frame. As she grapples with her own sexual assault, the impetus behind her present vengeful bloodlust, the emotional exteriors begin to flake.

Feedback – also quite an acting showcase for Marsan and Anders, who agonizes over his past with visceral honesty – does not allow for a solitary emotional release. The patriarchy’s predatory nature is exposed and explored with veracity, intense and devastating. It’s looming right outside your doors, and you might think you can escape it – but that would be a lie. The film succeeds in leaving you howling with blood-boiling frustration – and unlike 2019’s Black Christmas, there is very little justice for sexual assault survivors. However, to be fair, Anders’ Andrew Wilde gets a deserved dose of delicious comeuppance in one of the film’s most violent scenes.

Feedback is as real life as you can get – but what’s the cost?

The cast is rounded out with Alexis Rodney (as Anthony) and Nacho Aldeguer (as Samuel).