RAPT | Omeleto

A woman auditions. Thea is an aspiring actor who is auditioning for an elite acting conservatory program. Along with many other young hopefuls, she must go through a rigorous audition process. Initially, the process involves reading dramatic monologues, a common feature of many auditions. But as Thea clears each step, the process becomes odder, more confrontational and unorthodox, as Thea finds her sense of self dissolving and being rebuilt into something unsettling. Directed by Margot Budzyna from a script written by Margot Budzyna and Christian Tasiopoulos, this pressure cooker of a psychological drama is an intense, claustrophobic exploration of a young woman's pursuit of greatness, success and ambition, pared down to its barest contours. It's a fascinating blend of distinctive directorial vision and emotional revelation without traditional psychological intimacy, as Thea is pushed to her very limits to prove herself to a harsh would-be mentor. The film has a striking mix of narrative minimalism and a sculpted, bold visual approach. We never learn much about Thea's background, motivations or relationships; instead, the script pares her down to her desire to get into the program and her need to prove herself worthy. By contrast, the film's visual language is audacious, sweeping and anti-naturalistic, full of dark gleaming surfaces and sweeping movement. With an almost scientific precision, it emphasizes the military-like rigidity of the audition process, from the uniforms of the program aspirants to the neat rows they are lined up in. This is a world divorced from any messy realism, violently precise and controlled by an acting teacher, played with menace by actor Marc Menchaca, known for his roles in OZARK and HOMELAND. Like the film itself, actor Jesse LaTourette's performance as Thea is similarly pared down to its rawest essentials. We never know why she wants to act, but LaTourette's immediacy of feeling and her commitment to the unvarnished truth of the moment -- both as a character and an actor -- is often riveting. That spiky yet translucent immediacy gets teased out in a classic acting exercise of repetition with the teacher, a bruising confrontation that unmasks Thea's vaulting ambition. Revealed, Thea must decide how far she wants to go to get into the program in subsequent stages of the audition process -- a decision that surprises and unsettles even herself and brings RAPT into a disquieting, unsettling and ironic conclusion. It twins ruthlessness and the pursuit of greatness, and in its intense focus, allows us to experience both the rapture and peril of "the moment": where we can experience something fully, but untethered from the reality of outside ideas, norms or even another person. RAPT. Courtesy of Margot Budzyna at https://blueroadpictures.com.