X
127 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Hannah Katherine Jost and Scott J. Ramsey
Directed by Scott J. Ramsey
Synopsis:
No fantasy is too obscene at the masquerade balls hosted by Christian King,
known to her guests as X. The monthly masked debauchery that takes place
at her beachside estate is all fun and games until the arrival of an unexpected
guest from Christian’s past threatens to bring to light her darkest secret: she
is a voyeur who keeps a hidden camera in the guest bathroom.
Let’s begin with the easy stuff, first:
Describing itself as a “Hitchcockian mix of melodrama, thriller and camp,” X is a film that is decidedly not for everyone.
It is, at its core, a film designed to shock the viewer, with it’s increasingly “perverted” (that’s the word in the script, so I’m using it here) revelations: from the “Foundation” which holds fund-raising sex-parties out of Eyes Wide Shut, to the revelation of Christian’s usage of the camera footage, to the fallout from the disclosure of that, and finally to the evolution of the character relationships.
Some viewers just won’t be able to handle the film on that level.
Me? Whatever.
While I certainly didn’t find the film unwatchable, I did find it to be far from perfect, with a few sometimes-wooden performances, and perhaps suffering from an overestimation of it’s own cleverness in the beginning or its statement-making at the end.
Is the film bad? Hardly.
It does, at times, really hit the “melodrama” aspect of the above description, however…
Also, it does, perhaps, lean a bit on the “queerness” aspect of the film’s genesis and creative team, as outlined extensively in its press materials. Overall, I didn’t find the film to feel different from any other production in which some of the main characters are queer, or how they address (or fail to, in many respects) that aspect of themselves, until such time as the script confronts them with it.
The plot is both straightforward and bordering on too complex, but manages to avoid falling over that border.
The performance of Hope Raymond as “Christian King” is the standout takeaway from the film, as a whole. At times mysterious, brooding, and/or manic, Christian is the center of the film, and Hope holds that ground admirably (though Christian often doesn’t), though she finds herself beset on all sides by adversity once things get rolling.
All in all, if you’re not a puritan, you can find things to enjoy about X, but will struggle if you harbor any sort of close-mindedness about human sexuality.
X will be available, beginning February 9, to buy or rent on most digital platforms, including iTunes, Google Play, VUDU, or using the [PAID AMAZON AD] link below:
X stars Hope Raymond, Eliza Boivin, Brian Smick, Zachary Cowan, and Valerie Fachman.
And remember, if you like what we do, consider throwing a couple bucks our way to help us keep on entertaining you. Use this link: