Beautiful Friend (2024) Review: Truman Kewley’s Debut Feature is a Flawed But Disturbing Incel Horror

Despite the title, Beautiful Friend is anything but beautiful and it isn’t friendly either. This micro-budget indie, which marks Truman Kewley’s directorial debut, takes place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic era, where fear as well as anxiety and isolation not only gripped the nation but also all over the world. The story then zeroes in on Daniel (Adam Jones), a socially awkward young loner who is also an amateur filmmaker. He lives alone and we also see him setting up his camera and a tripod strapping in place on the back of his van. He would spend his time trying to approach and talk to people in the open parking lot and at one point, wanted to help a woman with the groceries.

But everyone seems to be either repulsed or coldly indifferent like he’s some kind of a plague. This, in turn, makes him feel increasingly resentful towards women as his soft-spoken and creepy voiceover narration engulfs his perverse and twisted mind. There’s an eerie sense of discomfort in the way he expresses his thought that delves deeper into the incel culture. He just can’t stand the fact that if a person can get it, why not him? This is especially true when comes to loving someone and having a relationship like everyone else.

However, his utmost desire remains unfulfilled to the point he’s resorted to kidnapping a young woman named Madison Richards played by Alexandrea Meyer. He tied her and confined her at the back of his van. He treats her like an object of his own affection and desire, resulting in a subsequent scene of sexual assault but Kewley filmed the moment in a matter-of-fact frankness without being titillating and gratuitous in any kind. I admit it was hard to watch because of the way Daniel treats his kidnapped victim like a piece of meat. He refuses to let her go and he subsequently brings her back to his home and chains her in a room like a prisoner.

Beautiful Friend deserves praise for the acting performances, which are essentially a two-hander between Adam Jones’ Daniel and Alexandrea Meyer’s Madison Richards. Jones’ unvarnished portrayal of a lonely incel is spot-on and his disturbing performances with a shade of Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle-like character in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (the scene with Daniel talking to himself and pointing his gun comes to mind) strikes a fine contrast with Meyer’s sympathetic turn as Madison Richards. During the initial introduction of her character, she barely speaks a word but her expression paints a thousand words in conveying her state of despair, hopelessness and vulnerability. It’s hard not to feel sorry for her character has gone through a traumatic ordeal.

While the movie gets a boost from better-than-expected performances, Kewley’s over-reliance on the voiceover-heavy narration tends to grow heavy-handed. I get that Daniel has a deep hatred towards women and he wants to spill out whatever thoughts in his mind to narrate the story. But I can’t help but feel the movie would have been better if Kewley could trim the voiceover narration and let Daniel’s actions justify his inner perspectives. The voiceover also even made the otherwise lean 81-minute runtime feel like it’s overstretched for its own good. Kewley also attempts to focus on the forced relationship between Daniel and Madison in the second half of the movie but the result is decidedly mixed with Kewley’s stubbornly dreary storytelling and muted visuals that can be frustrating at times. A few shortcomings aside, Truman Kewley’s feature debut remains a flawed but provocative experience worth checking out.

Beautiful Friend is available on Amazon on October 31st.