Saltburn (2023)

This psychological thriller about Oliver, a 2006 scholarship student at Oxford, befriending the wealthy Felix, held our attention as it got more and more intense. I don't think Amy would recommend it, but Jack and I have more of a taste for sick and twisted, which can make us laugh. Barry Keoghan is already racking up nominations as Oliver, as is Rosamund Pike as Felix's over-the-top mother. Jacob Elordi is the handsome Felix, Alison Oliver is his sister Venetia, and Richard E. Grant is their patient father. Carey Mulligan makes a cameo as "Poor Dear Pamela."

This is the second feature directed and written by Emerald Fennell and it is powerful. 

Apple Music has the score by Anthony Willis with the London Contemporary Orchestra. It also has a playlist of songs aired during the movie. The letterboxed, richly saturated, beautiful cinematography is thanks to Linus Sandgren.

Keoghan was last blogged for The Banshees of Inisherin for which he was Oscar-nominated, Pike for I Care a Lot, Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Mulligan for She Said, Fennell and Willis for Promising Young Woman (which starred Mulligan), and Sandgren for La La Land for which he won his Oscar. Elordi is new to me but I am compelled to mention that he plays Elvis in the movie Priscilla, which is on my watch list. Alison Oliver makes her feature debut after twelve episodes of Conversations with Friends and a couple of other credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't scalding, with averages of 71 and 79%. We watched it on Prime on December 23.