‘Two Neighbors’ review: Opposing worlds collide in confident, spiky US debut

Dir: Ondine Vinao. UK/US. 2025. 108mins.

Two Neighbors is a heady cocktail of a debut characteristic. Sturdy flavours of Saltburn are combined with a hefty measure of The Substance, a kick of premium Ruben Östlund satire and topped off with a twist of Paolo Sorrentino-style extra. An immensely assured, spiky assault on a world of senseless privilege and vaulting ambition, it ought to discover a welcome amongst adventurous arthouse audiences following a world premiere in competitors at Edinburgh.

Vinao exhibits a powerful technical command of the medium

Greatest identified for her four-hour video set up Holy Fools (2019), Vinao and co-writer Jordan Johnson have tailored Aesop’s fable Avaricious And Envious right into a sardonic satire contrasting the social place and aspirations of two younger girls. Stacy (Chloe Cherry) is a spoilt socialite, all pretend smiles, shiny pink lips and glassy eyes. Her present mission is to launch a physique optimistic underwear vary known as Stacy’s Lingerie. Cherry nails the pouty, petulant nature of her character’s vapidity. In distinction, Becky (Anya Chalotra) is a struggling author made insecure by her lack of success.

Manufacturing designer Lili Lea Abraham does a fantastic job of visually defining their particular person worlds. Stacy wafts round an enormous household property in Bedford, New York, lounging in a bed room dominated by a four-poster mattress and stuffed with feathers, flowers and frocks in varied shades of pink and purple. She appears to be residing in a John Singer Sargent portray. Becky shares a dingy, roach-infested flat underneath Brooklyn Bridge, which is a riot of sentimental furnishings, artworks and discarded philosophy books.

Stacy’s father Peterson (William Hope) is internet hosting a celebration at his property to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his firm and launch a brand new Grant-Your-Want basis. Becky’s father (Joseph Millson) is invited and he or she accompanies him, bringing the 2 younger girls underneath the identical roof. The occasion turns into a battleground, populated by wolves and sheep the place standing is bestowed by whether or not you might be invited to mingle with the in-crowd or ignored. Becky is ceaselessly pushed to the sidelines, deserted or left to her personal gadgets. The invention she has been collaborating with a really well-known author lends her a component of fame by affiliation.

Jim Williams’ rating, with its use of harpsichord, lends a sure majesty to the insanity that unfolds, and there’s a intelligent use of Marlene Dietrich’s ’The place Have All The Flowers Gone’ on the soundtrack. The superbly manicured lawns on which sheep graze provides to the Sorrentino-like opulence

Dividing the story into six chapters (’Second Place’, ‘As Normal’, ’Solely Predictable However Nonetheless Heartbreaking’, and so on), Vinao exhibits a powerful technical command of the medium. The roving digital camera conveys the cavernous really feel of the nation mansion, the lighting suggests all of the darkish corners during which shut encounters may happen, and the steadiness of slow-motion partying and cross-cutting between totally different characters begins to construct the frantic nature of the occasion.

Time spent with Stacy’s troubled brother Sebastian (Jake Simmance) and her smug, peroxide-blonde trophy boyfriend Chadwick (Taz Skylar) broadens the image of this social milieu however leaves the sensation there could also be just a little an excessive amount of happening. And that’s earlier than we meet the mysterious Genie (an underused Ralph Ineson), who could make needs come true.

Vinao appears to lose observe of a number of the story strands, and there’s a lack of readability in locations, however she finally returns the main target to the rivalry and resentment between Stacy and Becky. Their joint viewers with the Genie underlines brutally the very fact it is best to all the time watch out what you want for.