Review: "Fresh"

Fresh starts off making a commentary on how stale and gross online dating can be. In many ways, the way people view people on these apps ends up the same way as we look at meat. All of this takes place rather quickly in the beginning as the viewer is treated to seeing Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) as she goes out with a loser from her bland menu of endless app scrolling. The date goes poorly but it doesn’t stop her from losing hope of finding love. It is an intriguing start that seems a bit ho-hum but quickly takes a turn into a horror-comedy that will certainly surprise audiences.

The plot follows Noa, who is looking for love and despite the long list of losers, she encounters that are either racist, demeaning or just outright appalling she believes that someone is still out there for her. Eventually, on a supposed chance encounter she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan) at a grocery store who presents himself to be incredibly charming and sweeps Noa off her feet. She doesn’t think anything of the fact that he has no social media footprint, nothing to back the notion that he is a plastic surgeon as he proclaims, all of which is a reason for concern to Noa’s best friend Mollie. Steve asks Noa to come away with him to a surprise weekend getaway at an unknown location. She agrees, but not surprising to any viewer nor Noa’s friend, it wasn’t a wise decision.

The brilliance of the film is largely in the wise script penned by Lauryn Kahn and the visual language that director Mimi Cave infuses into the film. It is a very intimate film with small sets but Cave manages to keep it all very “fresh” and unique which is a rare thing to see now in the horror genre. Kahn’s script gives plenty of hints as to what truth Stan’s Steve is hiding from Noa. While Stan as an actor is very charming, his words often carry a bit of a bite, for instance, the careful ear will catch on when he explains to Noa that he “doesn’t eat animals.” If that’s the case, why not just say he is a vegetarian? Once everything comes out, the title card is finally shown which is a bit jarring but the title begins to make sense with what is transpiring.

Daisy Edgar-Jones turn as Noa is refreshing as she is undeniably optimistic but a fair bit too naive which can be incredibly frustrating as the viewer becomes more and more aware of what is transpiring. Again, Stan is very charming and the two play off of each other really well but the true stars of the film never appear on the screen. Kahn’s script is played for comedy even though it is again at its core a horror/thriller. Beyond the comedic beats at times, it is as gripping as it is upsetting and for a directorial debut from Mimi Cave, she has certainly set herself up for a career to look out for.

The premise as a whole isn’t completely original but again through the slick script and the entertaining while the equally bonkers direction of Mimi Cave’s Fresh, it is a fun time. The performances are solid enough, as they need to be due to the wholly intimate direction of Cave that features plenty of zoomed-in shots of her actors, almost to a fault as it can be a bit uncomfortable from time to time. Fresh is another hit for the streaming giant at Hulu and a strong addition to the horror genre in 2022.