Halfway through Millicent Hailes’ debut, Perfect, I completely forgot the film was a sci-fi post-apocalyptic drama. Ashley Moore plays a cold, heartbroken vagrant navigating a post-apocalyptic world, and Julia Fox finally portrays a persuasive lesbian who always gets what she wants in this melodrama. Unfortunately, it only goes down a predictable one-track path, acting like every generic indie lesbian romantic drama you’ve seen before.
In a water-endangered world where most water is contaminated, lonesome, brokenhearted Kai (Ashley Moore) wanders the deserted road, living in her car. She passes through Breakwater, where she befriends gas shop clerk Sunny ( a charming LÃo Mehiel). At the gas station, she also encounters Mallory (Fox), an enigmatic, smooth-tongued pregnant woman with whom she bonds.
After a night of hanging with Sunny and his crew, Kai finds her dear car vandalized and broken down. But Mallory finds her, and soon the two begin a passionate, heated romance. She integrates herself with the community, working and living with Mallory in her resort cabins. But soon, secrets of Mallory’s past come to light, throwing their relationship for a loop.
For what it’s worth, Ashley Moore and Julia Fox perform admirably in their respective parts, Moore capturing Kai’s desire for warmth and Fox portraying Mallory’s cheerful, sensual whimsy, creating a charming on-screen relationship. I also really liked LÃo Mehiel’s performance as Sunny, bringing a naturalistic, kind-hearted warmth that makes Kai feel like home, with reactions and dialogue that carry genuine emotional weight.
That said, upon Kai and Mallory immediately getting together, Perfect simply abandons the post-apocalyptic backdrop altogether in favor of a generic, slow-paced slice-of-life melodrama.
Much of Mallory and Kai’s romance is held together by continuous sex scenes set to FKA Twigs needle drops. Their conversations are few and far between, and the ones that occur tend to be Mallory getting fussy over Kai not giving her enough attention. Is Kai an escape for Mallory? What is the fabric tying them together outside of sex? Although they occasionally exchange “I love yous,” Hailes and co-writer Kendra Miller’s script doesn’t really mine any real substance out of their dynamic despite Fox and Moore’s chemistry. Nor do they immerse you in that moment of emotional transformation with them. Sex is almost the lovers’ only romantic connection, to the extent that Sunny teases Kai about her being her sugar mama. Their relationship stays stagnant throughout.
Even by “toxic lesbian” depiction standards, Perfect plays it pretty safe. If you have ever viewed an indie lesbian romance, you can easily predict Mallory’s mysterious secret. It leaves no room for narrative surprises, and even upon arrival of its dramatic turns, the precision is weak due to the flat writing and dull pacing.
It’s a shame how much Perfect fails to engage with its premise in preference of the same hollow toxic-lesbian romance story with no meaningful thematic exploration seen many times over. Despite its talented cast and their solid chemistry, Hailes’ debut looks about the same as Kai’s car: in a state of disrepair.
