The other reviews here are praising the director since it is written by a woman and has a female lead. Ignoring this, I would say that it was an interesting movie. Slow-paced drama of what it would be like if an outside being tried to be human. The movie was building up to the ending but ended up being to abstract.
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pratikubba30 March 2018
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andipro14 April 2020Very interesting and promising film. A nice idea, and all that ruined by the last 10 minutes stupid ending. Sad!
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bemyfriend-4018420 March 2021I was LOVING this fresh, fun little flick... until the end. Because there was no end. I mean, no conclusive story; or anything like anything like that. The writer went home early; and the janitor cleaned up. The End.
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William_Henry_Pratt25 August 2018Boring, pretentious, and banal picture made by an untalented group. Nothing of this production has any merit or quality. The narrative (there is no story) is poorly constructed and offers nothing of interest. Seems to me that someone watched Under the Skin and thought they could do better - they thought wrong. Nothing happens!
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So funny to read reviews that now use identity directing as a base for like or dislike. "More female directed sci-fi please" is just a laughable base for a review opinion. Anyways, the movie definitely resembles Under the Skin and it just was kind of dull. If this would have been part of a larger plot it would have been fine. A whole movie was too much. Ending was awful. Watch if you like. I didn't get much out of this. More 3rd cousin twice removed sci-fi directors please!!! Couldn't resist.
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the_nephilim7119 January 2019I'm all for female directed sci-fi but I'd like for it to also make sense. The story was dull and unoriginal and the acting was stiff and unbelievable.
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kosmasp19 October 2017Struggling artists and broken down characters ... it will not be easy to completely sympathize with the main character (one of them that is) and it has not so much to do with the profession she "chose" for herself, but rather the way she aims to reach her goals. But then again, if you don't have a flawed protagonist, where would the friction be? In this case, we get an added bonus of a different path ... The main actress has quite some baggage to carry.
Strong female characters (with as mentioned before flaws, but nevertheless) are not that common in film, so it is refreshing to see this. And while the script may feel unfocused at points, the story is so weird and out there ... no pun intended. But it does make up for it for sure. If you like slow pacing drama, with small Science Fiction and social issues fragments woven into it ... this is for you -
terraplanetom19 August 2018This film seems to be a cross between Starman (1984) and The Double Life of Veronique (1991) with an emphasis on clashing cultures. An alien imitation, born with an assist from a magazine cover, takes human form and absorbs the Farsi language and gentle culture of two Iranian characters living in the rural southwestern United States: her human porn star counterpart (and look-alike) lives an urban lifestyle of sex, drugs and clubbing and she misses an opportunity to leave her chosen work in the sex trade. The duo meet and the open ended finale works for this short mysterious film.
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yada212131 August 2019An interesting plot idea. Alien entity comes to earth and becomes a human girl from a magazine cover photo. Learns English and parsi, music and life on Earth. The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the foreshortened ending. The story could have been developed with another twenty minutes to show what happens after imitation Girl means her identical Earth girl twin. Each curious about the others' existence.
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mind-wax30 June 2019This is a very sublime mystery scifi that leans toward potential sociopolitical commentary through the juxtaposition of the character doubles. Definitely influenced by Kieslowski's The Double Life of Véronique. Very glad to have found this gem.
Also, surprised Lewis Black appears in a brief non comedy cameo role. -
Takes inspiration from Scarlett Johansson's Under the Skin and Ridley Scott's Prometheus and provides a quirky narrative about an alien who clones itself from a photograph of a porn star and sets out to learn how its new body functions. Meanwhile, its source material is busy trying to enrich her life and break out of a futile existence as a drug dependent sex worker. The two stories hold interest as the characters are well acted by Lauren Ashley Carter and ultimately they dovetail into a meeting of the two that leaves more questions than answers. With an abrupt ending to the film, I was left scratching my head.
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anya-6313120 March 2018Natasha Kermani is of interest to me because there are very few women directing sci-fi flicks (Mimi Leder's DEEP IMPACT might be the only female-headed sci-fi household name, though many more women are producing successful horror films these days). Women are often expected to make projects about relationships, cutesy rom-coms, or intimate dramas - but Kermani clearly wants to craft bigger, more imaginative epics. IMITATION GIRL had elements of Tarkovsky, Kubrick, Ridley Scott, and Wong Kar Wai. Loved it.
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I_Ailurophile18 June 2022Distinctly understated, and to some extent playing with ideas we've seen before, I can appreciate that this isn't going to be for everyone. As it began I couldn't help but wonder what I was getting into, and it takes a while for any particular sense of plot or meaningful character to show up. As it does though, for those who are receptive to the approach taken, it's hard not to fall in love. The title belies a lovely, quiet duality as the picture follows two individuals: the titular figure, a mimic lifeform learning what it means to be human - and the young woman they have modeled themselves after, who is struggling to find her real self. There's a softly mesmerizing beauty in this exploration of humanity, and it's wonderfully gratifying that so much else about the film reflects that enchantment. Honestly, I think 'Imitation girl' is fantastic.
The first aspect to especially catch one's attention is the music, and therein lies one notable surprise. Composed between filmmaker Natasha Kermani and heavy and experimental music mastermind Kevin Hufnagel (!), the score is outstanding. Themes vary between haunting, warm, contemplative, charming, or sorrowful, and with those dynamics one may well assume that some parts stand out more than others - yet truthfully, each is just as strong as the next. Past this, it's a joy to see in 'Imitation girl' a representation to at least some extent of a culture and people that's direly underrepresented in cinema. As writer and director Kermani works to emphatically infuse a measure of her Iranian heritage into the picture, not least with the significant inclusion of Farsi in dialogue. Moreover, scenes including Neimah Djourabchi and Sanam Erfani further weave in small details that state, organically but pointedly, "We are here" - and it's so very welcome, not least because movies too commonly remain a tiredly alabaster playground.
With that, too: the cast themselves are tremendous, and themselves do so much to make 'Imitation girl' the rich, rewarding feature that it is. That goes for Djourabchi and Efrani in their considerable supporting parts, as well as Lewis Black (!) and Kevin O'Rourke in smaller appearances. Above all, though, star Lauren Ashley Carter is to be congratulated for turning in not one but two performances that are utterly terrific. Shifting between human Julianna or the unnamed imitation as scenes demand, Carter has a great opportunity to demonstrate her profoundly underrated skills as an actress, and as she excels she shows that she deserves far more recognition. The two roles are filled with their separate complexities and emotions, two beings who share delightful similarities and differences, and Carter navigates them with superb range and nuance, injecting both with personalities to mark them as wholly unique. There's a weirdly delicate balancing act going on between these two parts, and Carter's portrayals thereof, and therefore in the picture at large - but this is written and executed so deftly, by all on hand, that the result is characterized by astounding, satisfying finesse.
And, of course, Kermani's contributions are a gift. Her direction is marvelously adept as she guides her cast and orchestrates shots and scenes with telling mindfulness. Not one moment feels out of place or extraneous, and whether a shot is close-up or zoomed out, it feels like we're getting the utmost detail out of every instant. Her writing is somehow sharper still, letting the narrative slowly build on its own through each subsequent scene, each subsequent step in the path of Julianna and her other. As such it feels at first as though not much is happening, but both figures are flush with their own difficulties, and as their gentle arcs progress we as viewers can see how they are, individually, gradually becoming a greater complement of each other. This truth begins to take shape well before the fabulously fulfilling climax and ending rolls around - and once they do, the payoff is far more than I could have anticipated at the start.
Add in exceptional visual effects, super hair and makeup work, fetching costume design, crisp and vibrant cinematography, and otherwise unimpeachable technical craft, and frankly 'Imitation girl' impresses as being outright perfect. The low-key approach taken here won't sit well with all viewers, which I can understand, but the brilliant value herein - the earnestness, the heart, the smart and personal storytelling - absolutely outweighs any possible subjective shortcomings. I sat to watch 'Imitation girl' with uncertain or mixed expectations, and I'm instead blown away by what I've just seen. I adore this movie, and must give it my highest and most enthusiastic recommendation. If you have the chance to watch it, you must.