Daisy Ridley Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Cleaner’ (2025), starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar and Clive Owen

March 11, 2025

by Carla Hay

Daisy Ridley in “Cleaner” (Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution)

“Cleaner” (2025)

Directed by Martin Campbell

Culture Representation: Taking place in London, the action film “Cleaner” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A window cleaner, who left the U.K. miltary in disgrace, becomes the main person who can stop a group of terrorists who have taken hostages at a corrupt corporation that is in the energy business.

Culture Audience: “Cleaner” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of stars Daisy Ridley and Clive Owen and don’t mind watching a silly and derivative action flick.

Taz Skylar and Clive Owen in “Cleaner” (Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution)

“Cleaner” starts off as a promising thriller that’s obviously inspired by “Die Hard,” with a hero battling office-invading terrorists. But as the movie goes along, it becomes too ridiculous to take. Everything devolves into corny dreck with uneven acting.

Directed by Martin Campbell, “Cleaner” was written by Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley and Paul Andrew Williams. The movie, which takes place in London, has a story that happens over the course of a 24-hour period. (“Cleaner” was actually filmed in London and Malta.) The snappy dialogue that’s in the first 20 minutes of “Cleaner” all but disappears and is replaced by mind-numbing nonsense.

The protagonist in “Cleaner” is Joanna “Joey” Locke (played by Daisy Ridley), a feisty and foul-mouthed former U.K. Army soldier who now works as a skyscraper cleaner. Joey’s military career abruptly ended when she got into a fight that violated military rules. Depending on who you believe in the story, Joey either quit the military or she was dishonorably discharged.

Joey has a younger brother named Michael (played by Matthew Tuck), who has autism. Michael is a computer whiz who likes hacking into computers. (And you can bet these hacking skills will be used later in the movie.) In the beginning of the movie, Michael has been expelled from the home care facility where he was living because he’s the prime suspect in leaking confidential information about the home care facility to the media. Whoever leaked the information exposed some of the facility’s shady business practices.

Joey is seen storming into the home care office to pick up Michael after he’s been expelled. She gets angry at the on-duty administrator (played by Kate Nichols) by saying that the facility has no right to expel Michael without proof that he was the one who leaked the information. The administrator is unmoved and says Michael has to leave the property immediately. Later, Michael privately confesses to Joey that he did exactly what he was accused of doing.

Michael has nowhere else to go, and Joey is already running late for her job, so she reluctantly takes Michael with her to the high-rise building where she works. The building is the headquarters of a major corporation called Agnian Energy. On the way there, Joey and Michael race against time by going on a series of bus rides in a rather funny sequence where Michael tries and fails to get Joey to stop cursing so much.

Joey tells Michael that he can live with her until they can find a new place for him to live. Michael is thrilled about it, because he likes living with Joey. However, Joey doesn’t try to hide that she’s not keen on Michael living with her because of his high-maintenance needs. Joey flatly refuses Michael’s request to help him get the same job as a window cleaner. Joey tells Michael no because she says her boss Derek (played by Gavin Fleming) is a jerk.

It’s the late afternoon when Joey arrives at the Agnian Energy building. Joey tells Michael to wait for her in the building lobby until her work shift ends. She asks a lobby security guard named Big Ron (played by Russell De Rozario) to look after Joey, who doesn’t like feeling that someone has to babysit him. And as soon as Joey asks someone to look after Michael, you just know something is going to happen where Michael is going to slip out of the minder’s sight.

The two CEOs of Agnian Energy are brothers Gerald Milton (played by Lee Boardman) and Geoffrey Milton (played by Rufus Jones), who have opposite personalities. Older brother Gerald is a cocaine-snorting bully who cares more about being hedonistic on the job than actually doing the job. Geoffrey is the level-headed “brains” of the operation and does most of the real CEO work. Gerald and Geoffrey have opposite personalities, but they are both very corrupt.

How much of a nasty person is Gerald? Gerald, Joey and a pregnant housekeeper named Halina (played by Sol E. Romero) are all on a crowded elevator together. Gerald looks at Halina in disgust and tells her: “You better not fucking drop now. You should be at home.” Joey quips in response: “Maybe if you paid her proper maternity leave, she would be.” Gerald later asks a subordinate if Joey can be fired for being “lippy” to Gerald. Gerald is told no.

Agnian Energy is having a big corporate party in the building that evening. Several of the company’s investors and other business associates will be attending this party. Because Joey was late to work, Derek makes her work one hour past the end of her work shift, after it gets dark. And it’s here where the movie starts to fall off the rails because of how illogical it is to have a skyscraper window cleaner work outside at night when it’s too dark to see how clean the glass is.

Joey is outside on a platform and cleaning the building windows at night when she sees the masked terrorists who invade this office party. The six armed people who storm into the building are wearing green goblin masks and have an agenda: Take all the party attendees hostage and make them confess their business crimes on a livestream feed.

Who are these terrorists? They’re a radical group of environmentalists who think Agnian Energy is responsible for illegal pollution and other business crimes. The group is led by Marcus Blake (played by Clive Owen), who doesn’t want anyone killed during this office invasion.

Someone else in this group of terrorists has other ideas and gets in a power struggle with Marcus. This challenger is Noah Santos (played by Taz Skylar), a nihilist who says he hates all people and thinks the hostages at this party deserve to be murdered. Noah is very much a cartoonish villain, whose dialogue becomes more unhinged (and more cringeworthy) as the movie stumbles along from one stupid scene to the next.

If you know about “Die Hard” or other movies that are trying to be like “Die Hard,” then you can easily predict what will happen for the rest of “Cleaner,” which is a disappointing dud. The fight scenes are often ludicrous. And there’s even an idiotic scene where Joey is on her skyscraper platform outside while Noah forces her to shoot a gun at innocent bystanders below on the street.

The two main law enforcement officers on the scene are Detective Sergeant Claire Hume (played by Ruth Gemmell) and Detective Inspector Khan (played by Ray Fearon), who clash with each other over some decisions during this hostage crisis. Claire is the chief negotiator. Her colleague Khan doesn’t think she’s aggressive enough with the terrorists.

Ridley gives it her all to portray an action hero, but her acting efforts cannot overcome a terrible screenplay and sloppy direction. Owen (who is not in the movie for as much you might think) gives a mediocre performance, as do most of the other cast members. There isn’t one single plot development in “Cleaner” that is original or clever. Simply put: The filmmaking for “Cleaner” is as messy and unappealing as a muddy window.

Quiver Distribution released “Cleaner” in U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025.

Review: ‘Young Woman and the Sea,’ starring Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Stephen Graham, Kim Bodnia, Christopher Eccleston and Glenn Fleshler

May 31, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Young Woman and the Sea”

Directed by Joachim Rønning

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and Europe from 1914 to 1926, the dramatic film “Young Woman and the Sea” (based on true events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one black person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Champion swimmer Trudy Ederle, who becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel, defies expectations and sexism in her quest for greatness.

Culture Audience: “Young Woman and the Sea” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of “against all odds” stories about underestimated athletes or women in patriarchal societies.

Ethan Rouse, Kim Bodnia, Jeanette Hain, Daisy Ridley and Tilda Cobham-Hervey in “Young Woman and the Sea” (Photo by Elena Nenkova/Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

“Young Woman and the Sea” is a traditionally made sports drama that might seem old-fashioned to some viewers. However, this biopic about champion swimmer Trudy Ederle has solid acting and themes that don’t get outdated, such as triumphing over obstacles. People who like stories about iconic achievers who are determined but modest about their accomplishments will find plenty to like about how Ederle is portrayed in this inspirational film.

Directed by Joachim Rønning, “Young Woman and the Sea” is based on Glenn Stout’s 2009 non-fiction book “Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel.” The movie’s adapted screenplay was written by Jeff Nathanson. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle (who was born in 1905 and died in 2003) is considered one of the best competitive female swimmers of all time, not just because of the records she broke but also because of the barriers she broke for other female swimmers. There’s nothing complicated about this movie, which is told in mostly chronological order. For the purposes of this review, the real Trudy Ederle will be called Ederle, while the Trudy Ederle character in the movie will be called Trudy.

“Young Woman and the Sea” begins in the mid-1920s, by showing Trudy in her early 20s (played by Daisy Ridley) about to dive into a large body of water to train for her historic swim across the English Channel. She is covered in an unnamed lubricant (it looks like Vaseline), which is what long-distance swimmers use to help deal with cold-water temperatures. Trudy is singing what the movie later reveals to be her favorite song: the 1920 foxtrot tune “Ain’t We Got Fun,” written by Richard A. Whiting, Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn.

The movie then shows an extensive flashback to Trudy’s childhood in 1914, when she was 9 years old. Trudy (played Olive Abercrombie) has made a near-miraculous recovery from measles that left her bedridden and her family worried that she might die. However, the measles would lead to Trudy having hearing loss that got worse when she was in her 30s and eventually became legally deaf.

Trudy lives in New York City with her German immigrant parents; her older sister Margaret “Meg” Ederle; and her younger brother Henry Ederle Jr. (“Young Woman and the Sea” was actually filmed in Bulgaria.) Meg is about two or three years older than Trudy. Henry is about five or six years younger than Trudy. Tilda Cobham-Hervey has the role of young-adult Meg. Lilly Aspell has the role of adolescent Meg. Raphael J. Bishop has the role of pre-teen Henry. Ethan Rouse has the role of teenage Henry.

Henry Ederle Sr. (played by Kim Bodnia) is a butcher who believes in a strict, patriarchal way of living, where men are supposed to be thought of and treated as superior to women. Gertrude Ederle (played by Jeanette Hain) is strong-willed and thinks that women and girls should not have restrictions placed on them because of gender. In other words, Gertrude is a feminist before the word “feminist” was invented.

Getrude’s belief in gender equality plays a crucial role in giving Trudy the motivation and opportunities to become a champion swimmer. Early on in the movie, when Ederle kids are all underage, Meg and Trudy can see from their home that ship has gone up in flames at a nearby port. Gertrude tells them the tragic news that many people (mostly women) on the ship drowned because they didn’t know how to swim, and they stayed on the burning boat rather than risk trying to swim to shore nearby.

Henry Sr. says that Henry Jr. will definitely learn how to swim, but Meg doesn’t need to learn. Gertrude strongly disagrees and says that Meg and Trudy have a right to learn how to swim, just like anyone else does. Gertrude believes that knowing how to swim is a life-saving skill that shouldn’t be deprived or bestowed upon people based on gender. Henry Sr. also believes that it isn’t ladylike for girls or women to be in swimming competitions.

In the meantime, Trudy is determined to learn how to swim, even though her father disapproves. Trudy’s doctor has also warned that Trudy shouldn’t get too much water in her ears, or it could cause more hearing loss for Trudy. After much persistence from Trudy, her father agrees to teach Trudy how to swim at Coney Island’s beach. Due to her recent illness, Trudy cannot use a public swimming pool.

Trudy is a natural talent and soon becomes obsessed with swimming. When Trudy and Meg are teenagers, Henry Sr. is still adamant that they can’t become competitive swimmers. So what does Getrude do? She enrolls Trudy and Meg in an all-female swimming team, led by a tough-but-caring coach named Charlotte “Eppy” Epstein (played by Sian Clifford), who gives the two sisters the training to become more disciplined swimmers.

It isn’t long before Trudy outshines Meg as a swimmer in competitons. Meg seems to have some envy about Trudy’s superior swimming skills, but Meg’s envy doesn’t fester into full-blown jealousy, mainly because Meg is not as passionate about swimming as Trudy is. Trudy puts swimming above everything else in her life. In the movie, Trudy is never shown having any friends or dating anyone. Meg is Trudy’s closest confidante.

Meg starts to rebel a little against her father. One night, Meg comes home late and smelling like liquor. Meg admits to her disapproving father that she’s been on a date with a guy named Chip Anderson (played by Hyoie O’Grady), who has been courting Meg and will soon ask Meg to marry him. Henry Sr. flies into a rage because he thinks his daughters should marry men of German heritage. (The movie takes a short detour into Meg’s love life, which doesn’t go according to what Meg really wants.)

Meanwhile, a montage shows that Trudy wins several swimming competitions on a local, state, and then national level, often breaking swimming records along the way. It’s inevitable that Trudy trains for the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. And then, in 1926, Trudy decides to take on her biggest challenge of all: swimming across the English Channel, which is a feat that had never been accomplished by a woman at the time.

“Young Woman and the Sea” has the expected scenes of men trying to block or discourage Trudy’s ambitions, simply because of her female gender. Trudy’s father is one of the chief culprits of this sexism. And for a long time, he refuses to celebrate Trudy’s accomplishments. Trudy’s mother Gertrude is always supportive of her, but Trudy wants her father’s approval too.

For her Olympic training, Trudy gets a wealthy sponsor named James Sullivan (played by Glenn Fleshler), a pompous blowhard who wants Trudy to be among the six American female swimmers whom he’s sponsoring for the Olympics. James insists that Trudy and the other women swimmers have a male coach. Jabez Wolffe (played by Christopher Eccleston), a Scottish has-been professional swimmer, becomes Trudy’s coach. It becomes obvious early on that Jabez is very jealous that Trudy is more talented than he could ever be.

Not all of the men in Trudy’s life are sexist and condescending. Trudy meets a rebellious sailor named Bill Burgess (played by Stephen Graham), who’s got a similar spirit of non-conformity as Trudy has. The first time that Trudy sees Bill, he’s at the Coney Island beach being arrested for swimming naked. Bill ends up becoming Trudy’s sailor navigator during her English Channel swimming marathon. Trudy also develops a friendly acquaintance with another swimmer named Benji Zammit (played by Alexander Karim), who also wants to swim across the English Channel.

Even if viewers have never heard of Trudy Ederle before seeing this movie, “Young Woman Sea” has no real surprises because it checks all the usual plot boxes and follows the same formula as many other sports movies. A noticeable flaw of the movie is that it doesn’t accurately depict the type of hearing loss that the real Ederle had during this time in her life. There’s a brief mention of her hearing loss but then Trudy’s hearing loss is never really mentioned or shown again.

The acting performances fit the tone of the movie very well. Ridley is quite good but not outstanding in “Young Woman and the Sea,” which unrealistically makes Trudy look like she has no personality flaws. The swimming scenes are thrilling though, with Oscar Faura’s cinematography making viewers feel immersed in the water along with Trudy, even in some of the scenes that are obviously not in a real ocean. Unlike the treacherous waters that Trudy swims in, “Young Woman and the Sea” offers nothing edgy or unpredictable. The movie is a perfectly fine option for anyone who wants to see a story that can appeal to many generations of people.

Walt Disney Pictures released “Young Woman and the Sea” in select U.S. cinemas on May 31, 2024.

Review: ‘Sometimes I Think About Dying’ (2024), starring Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena and Marcia DeBonis

January 26, 2024

by Carla Hay

Daisy Ridley in “Sometimes I Think About Dying” (Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)

“Sometimes I Think About Dying” (2024)

Directed by Rachel Lambert

Culture Representation: Taking place in Oregon, the dramatic film “Sometimes I Thing About Dying” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A very introverted woman with an almost non-existent social life has to decide how much she will open herself up to love when a co-worker begins courting her.

Culture Audience: “Sometimes I Think About Dying” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Daisy Ridley and low-key, independent films that have observations about loneliness and personality disorders.

Dave Merheje and Daisy Ridley in “Sometimes I Think About Dying” (Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)

“Sometimes I Think About Dying” is a unique portrait of social anxiety and depression. This quiet and slow-paced drama won’t appeal to everyone. However, viewers with the patience to watch the entire movie will see an interesting awakening in the painfully shy protagonist, who has to learn to get out of her head and experience more of life.

Directed by Rachel Lambert, “Sometimes I Think About Dying” is based on the 2019 short film of the same name. Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Kevin Armento and Katy Wright-Mead wrote the screenplays for both movies, but Horowitz directed the short film. The feature-length version of “Sometimes I Think About Dying” had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The movie was filmed in Oregon and the city of Longview, Washington.

In the feature-length “Sometimes I Think About Dying” (which takes place in an unnamed city in Oregon), the central character is Fran Larsen (played by Daisy Ridley), a depressed introvert whose life is a bland routine. Fran, who is in her late 20s, works at her office for a small business called CB Port Authority. Fran does administrative work (whatever she does in her job, she uses a lot of spreadsheets) in a non-descript cubicle. There are less than 15 people who work in this office. After her work shift, Fran usually just goes home to her modest house and doesn’t communicate with anyone.

Fran has a secret interior life where she thinks about scenarios in which she is dying or is already dead. The movie is punctuated with glimpses of these morbid fantasies. In one scenario, a snake is on the floor in the office, with Fran’s back to the snake, as if she’s unaware that the snake could pounce at any moment. In another scenario, Fran is a corpse on a beach. In another scenario, she’s dead in a wooded area.

Fran is very shy and keeps mostly to herself at work. In the beginning of the movie, a co-worker named Carol (played by Marcia DeBonis) is retiring, so the co-workers have gathered in the break room for Carol’s going-away party. Carol gives away some of her office supplies and says in a gloating voice, “I’m going on a cruise!” In a retirement greeting card signed by all the co-workers, Fran’s written message inside the card is a very basic “Happy retirement.”

Other people who work in the office are cheerful supervisor Isobel (played by Megan Stalter), nerdy Sean (played by Sean Tarjyoto), eccentric Doug (played by Jeb Berrier), self-assured Garrett (played by Parvesh Cheena) and eager intern Sophie (played by Brittany O’Grady). After Carol now longer works at the company, the dynamics in the office change with the arrival of Robert (played by Dave Merheje), who is Carol’s replacement.

Robert, who is in his late 30s or early 40s, seems to be almost immediately attracted to Fran, who is slow to pick up the social cues that Robert wants to start a conversation to get to know her better. In text messages, Robert asks Fran some questions about office supplies. He confesses that he’s never had a job before. Most people would be curious to know why, but Fran doesn’t ask.

Eventually, Robert establishes a little bit of rapport with Fran when they find out that they both like cottage cheese. Fran shows she can be nitpicky when she corrects Robert and says that cottage cheese is technically not cheese. “It’s a curd. I Googled it,” she states matter-of-factly.

Robert asks Fran out on a date. She says yes. Robert and Fran see a movie and then have dinner on this first date. Over dinner at a restaurant, Robert says he’s a big fan of movies, and he liked the film that they saw. Fran admits she didn’t like the film.

The waitress who serves them at the restaurant is named Amelia. She invites Robert and Fran to a small get-together that she has on Saturdays. It turns out to be a murder mystery game, which is somewhat ironic because Fran spends a lot of time thinking about herself dying in gruesome ways.

It’s very difficult for Fran to open up about herself to anyone. The most that she will tell Robert is that she grew up in Hawaii, she likes to cook, and she’s never been in love. Meanwhile, Robert tells her that he’s been divorced twice and that he hasn’t figured out marriage yet.

“Sometimes I Think About Dying” doesn’t have a big, sweeping plot. There are several scenes in the movie that show how isolated Fran is when she’s at home. And even when she’s with people (such as in her office job), she still seems very alone because she’s lost in her thoughts and not sociable. She’s not rude, but she doesn’t seek out people’s company, and she rarely initiates conversations with other people.

“Sometimes I Think About Dying” does not follow a predictable formula that’s usually in movies about lonely single people, so this film will simply be too boring for some viewers. However, Ridley gives a very good depiction of how people who feel invisible (by choice or by circumstance) often behave. This is not a typical story where someone is going to swoop in and “rescue” Fran from her social anxiety. Instead, the movie excels at showing in nuanced ways how human connections can be terrifying to people who are also afraid to confront their own insecurities.

Oscilloscope Laboratories released “Sometimes I Think About Dying” in select U.S. cinemas on January 26, 2024.

Review: ‘The Inventor’ (2023), starring the voices of Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Gauthier Battoue and Matt Berry

December 17, 2023

by Carla Hay

King Francis I (voiced by Gauthier Battoue), Leonardo Da Vinci (voiced by Stephen Fry), Princess Marguerite (voiced by Daisy Ridley) and Louise de Savoy (voiced by Marion Cotillard) in “The Inventor” (Photo courtesy of Curiosity Studio/Blue Fox Entertainment)

“The Inventor” (2023)

Directed by Jim Capobianco; co-directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon

Culture Representation: Taking place in Italy and in France, in the 1500s, the animated film “The Inventor” features a cast of all-white cast characters representing the working-class, middle-class and royalty.

Culture Clash: Renowned artist Leonardo Da Vinci tries to find acceptance as an inventor at a time when science and scientific inventions were considered religious blasphemy.

Culture Audience: “The Inventor” will appeal primarily to people interested in watching a pleasantly simple history-based animated movie that uses stop-motion and 2-D animation.

King Francis I (voiced by Gauthier Battoue) in “The Inventor” (Photo courtesy of Curiosity Studio/Blue Fox Entertainment)

“The Inventor” doesn’t do anything groundbreaking in animation, but it’s a charming option for viewers who want to see an adventure story about Leonardo da Vinci. The movie has positive messages about reaching for our best potential. The visuals (a combination of stop-motion animation and 2-D animation) are the opposite of slick and overly intricate, giving the movie a traditional look that is o. The voice performances are also well-cast.

Directed by Jim Capobianco and co-directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon, “The Inventor” takes place in the 1500s. The movie begins in 1516 in the Italian capital of Rome, where famous painter Leonardo DaVinci (voiced by Stephen Fry) shows fellow painter Francesco Melzi (voiced by Angelino Sandri) his new invention: a telescope. Leonardo wants more out of his life than just being known as an artist. He also wants to be known as a polymath: someone who has many different skills.

Leonardo has an avid interest in science. However, Pope Leo X (voiced by Matt Berry) thinks science is religious blasphemy. The pope wants Leonardo to stick to only painting chapels and doing other paintings.. Leonardo resists this command.

As a compromise, Pope Leo X tells Leonardo: “I command that you create a bauble, a gift that will cement the peace between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of France. If you are successful, I shall allow you to continue your studies. However, [if you fail], you will find you and your curiosity on the heretics’ pile.

It just so happens that in France, King Francis I (voiced by Gauthier Battoue) has invited Leonard to become France’s first person to be a combination architect/painter/engineer for the royal court. Leonardo is introduced to King Francis’ mother Louise de Savoy (voiced by Marion Cotillard) and King Francis’ sister Marguerite (voiced by Daisy Ridley), who is often the target of Francis’ sexist attitude. The king’s architect Il Boccador (voiced by Max Baumgarten) and the king’s engineer Pierre Nepveu (voiced by Natalie Palamides) greatly admire Leonardo and his vision for creating canals, gallerias and gardens.

However, King Francis thinks the plans are too expensive and complicated. When Marguerite says that Leonardo’s ideas are great, King Francis is dismissive when he tells her: “If only you were permitted to wear britches, you’d be every bit my equal.” Marguerite isn’t the type to accept this insult and doesn’t hesitate to try to prove her brother Francis wrong.

Meanwhile, “The Inventor” has some debate about faith versus science, and if they can co-exist in the same outlook on life. Marguerite says to Leonardo: “Faith makes all things possible. Don’t you agree?”

Leonardo replies, “All I know is that blind faith cannot prove the existence of the soul. Using the power of reason, however, observation, and experiment, I endeavor to find that soul … And when I find this immortal soul, I hope people share its answers about life.”

All of this existential talk makes “The Inventor” an animated film that’s geared to people who are at least 8 years old. Children young than 8 will enjoy the visuals but might not fully understand the messages behind the film. Overall, “The Inventor” is enjoyable for what it is but it’s not a classic film that will influence generations of viewers.

Blue Fox Entertainment released “The Inventor” in U.S. cinemas on September 15, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 7, 2023.

Review: ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter,’ starring Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, Caren Pistorius, Brooklynn Prince and Gil Birmingham

November 22, 2023

by Carla Hay

“The Marsh King’s Daughter”

Directed by Neil Burger

Culture Representation: Taking place in Michigan, in 2002 and in 2022, the dramatic film “The Marsh King’s Daughter” (based on the 2017 novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and one Native American) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Twenty years after her father was imprisoned for kidnapping her mother, a 30-year-old woman, who has tried to erase him from her life, finds out that her past has come back to haunt her when he breaks out of prison captivity to track her down.

Culture Audience: “The Marsh King’s Daughter” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching formulaic and ridiculous “women in peril” dramas.

Gil Birmingham and Daisy Ridley in “The Marsh King’s Daughter” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)

It’s ironic that much of “The Marsh King’s Daughter” takes place in a backwoods marsh area, because this entire movie is a soggy mess. It starts off as a monotonous drama and devolves into a series of silly action scenes that don’t look believable. There are no real surprises in this disappointing dud, except for the surprise that some viewers might feel about how “The Marsh King’s Daughter” gets worse as the movie stumbles along to its very predictable conclusion.

Directed by Neil Burger, “The Marsh King’s Daughter” is based on Karen Dionne’s 2017 novel of the same name. Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith co-wrote the unimpressive adapted screenplay for “The Marsh King’s Daughter.” It’s more of a series of plot checklists than an engaging story that flows well. The cast members, for the most part, just go through the motions in drab performances.

The tedious first third of the movie takes place in 2002, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where a reclusive family of three people are living “off the grid” in a remote wooded area near a marsh. Helena (played by Brooklynn Prince) is a 10-year-old who adores her father Jacob “Jake” Holbrook (played by Ben Mendelsohn), who teaches her the fundamentals of hunting and fishing. Jacob also has an unusual habit of giving underage Helena a tattoo every time she kills a specific animal.

Helena has a closer emotional bond with her father than she has with her mother Beth (played by Caren Pistorius), because Helena thinks that her mother is an uptight nag. “She’s always mad at me,” Helen complains to Jacob about Beth. From the beginning, it’s shown that Jacob is abusive to Beth.

Every time it looks like Beth wants to leave to go somewhere on her own, Jacob physically and roughly restrains her and prevents her from leaving. Helena witnesses some of this abuse, but she turns a blind eye to it because her father has convinced Helena that Beth deserves to be “disciplined.” Jacob is so manipulative, he has lied to Helena by saying Beth is trying to abandon them.

That’s why it should come as no surprise to “The Marsh King’s Daughter” viewers when it’s revealed that Jacob kidnapped Beth (whose last name is Ericson) about 12 years earlier and forced her to get pregnant. Helena was the result of this forced pregnancy. This secret isn’t revealed to Helena until something drastic happens.

By the end of the first third of the movie, Beth makes a daring escape with Helena, while Jacob murders an innocent ATV driver (played by Joshua Peace) during this escape. Jacob is captured, convicted, and sentenced to several years in prison. The media and law enforcement have given Jacob the nickname The Marsh King. None of this is spoiler information, since it’s already revealed in the trailer for “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” which gives away about 80% of the movie’s plot.

The middle and last sections “The Marsh King’s Daughter” take place in 2022. Helena (played by Daisy Ridley) is now a 30-year-old married mother, with the married surname Pelletier. Helena works in accounting at a local college. Beth is now deceased. It’s mentioned at one point in the movie that it took years for Helena and Beth to somewhat mend their relationship before Beth died.

Helena is deeply ashamed of who her father is, so she changed her own identity years ago. She has not told her businessman husband Stephen Pelletier (played by Garrett Hedlund) about her father and his sordid crimes. Instead, Helena has told Stephen that her father is dead. Helena and Stephen have one child together: an intuitive and curious daughter named Marigold (played by Joey Carson), who’s about 8 or 9 years old.

Helena’s world comes crashing down when Jacob escapes from being transported in a prison van and kills a few more people in the process. Jacob is determined to track down Helena, because in his warped mind, he thinks that he, Helena, and Marigold should live as a happy family in the marsh area where Helena spent much of her childhood.

Gil Birmingham has a thankless supporting role as an investigating police officer named Clark Bekkum, who was in love with Helena’s mother Beth. Clark and Beth never married, but Clark became like a stepfather figure to Helena when she was younger and when Jacob was in prison. Clark still wants to have that type of stepfather figure role in Helena’s life when Clark and Helena reconnect after not seeing each other for years. What happens to Clark in the movie is exactly what you think happens to Clark.

Mendolsohn has made a career out of playing movie villains, and he does more of the same posturing and sneering as “The Marsh King” serial killer Jacob in this tepid and uninspired drama. Ridley fails to convince during an abrupt transition when Helena goes from being a meek and introverted wife/mother to a badass action hero who thinks she doesn’t need law enforcement’s help in dealing with her dangerous father. There is so little suspense in how this story ends, “The Marsh King’s Daughter” simply exists as mindless mush.

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions released “The Marsh King’s Daughter” in U.S. cinemas on November 3, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 21, 2023.