Short Stuff: 'Bad Apples'

For a movie that starts with the most unnecessarily evil child of all time, it really manages to level the playing field. The poster undersells how demented it gets, to the point where calling this a 'dark comedy' wouldn't miss the mark, and to the point where that child at the start actually becomes the most normal one in the whole movie. It's just one great big ladder of 'surely she won't,' and then she does, but then 'surely she won't.' Saoirse is perfect at playing overwhelmed; it's the exact type where you'd be surprised that it's specifically her doing it, and innocent enough that you could probably make some whacky excuse. 'Oh, but he's well fed.' Some of those shenanigans.

Where the movie veers off track is Paulina, a little girl completely obsessed with her teacher: following her home and listening through the mailbox, wearing her dresses, staring at her all day. It's where most of the tension comes from, actually, that this child realises she's able to do anything she now wants because she's got the keys to the kingdom. How she uses her power, though, doesn't really add to the narrative so much as it pauses it for long, extended scenes where she's doing something strange, and it's pure nails on a chalkboard. Played well, so easy to hate, but grinds the movie to a staggering halt multiple times. Aside from that, quite lovely, if you can use that word. Oh, and a perfect title.