The Monkey’s Mask

I think I would’ve really enjoyed The Monkey’s Mask novel. But the movie adaption of said novel? Meh.

The Monkey’s Mask is an Australian murder mystery whose main character is a lesbian private detective named Jill. Jill is investigating the case of a woman named Mickey (played by a pre-fame Abbie Cornish) going missing. During the investigation, she meets Mickey’s poetry professor Diane. Jill begins a sexual relationship with her despite the fact that Diane is married and that she and her husband are by far the most likely suspects in Mickey’s disappearance.

My big problem with this mystery film is that there’s not really any mystery. There’s only about four main characters so it’s not exactly hard to work out whodunit. The mystery is not exactly what happened to Mickey but why Jill continuously involves herself with a woman who’s a major suspect and almost definitely involved with the case Jill is working.

There’s a fair amount of lesbian sex in The Monkey’s Mask. While the acting and choreographing is decent and all that, my problem is I think they used this sexual element to make their movie seem more thrilling and intriguing than it actually is. The Monkey’s Mask uses lesbian sex as something to shock its audience. I’m not good with a film using my sexuality as an attempt to cover up the fact that its plot is weak and the story isn’t intriguing enough on its own.

I can’t even say the sex is unnecessary to the story because this movie would be nothing with this sexual dynamic. But the dynamic in question is cheaply done and not respectful. There’s no interest in exploring the characters of Jill or Diane and even though my movie claims to have this psychosexual dynamic. The totality of said dynamic is Diane probably killed someone but Jill sleeps with her anyway because Diane is attractive and sexually voracious. That’s it. More than any psychological element, The Monkey’s Mask just wanted to show two ladies naked together.

Really, that’s all I have to say about this movie. It doesn’t work as a mystery so it doesn’t work overall. The performances are fine, I guess. It’s not a particularly memorable movie. I love a murder mystery and I love one featuring a lesbian detective. It really does remind me of lesbian murder mystery novels which I read and enjoy but it fails to drum up intrigue, tension or make me care about the characters. I just didn’t find The Monkey’s Mask to be mysterious enough to qualify as a good mystery movie.

Overall rating: 4.7/10

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