19-year-old college student Midori (fetching brunette Danielle Gilad) works as a prostitute on the side in order to raise additional money to supplement her scholarship to Yale. Things get nasty and violent when her latest john turns out to be a crazed religious fanatic. Writer/director/editor/cinematography Gorman Bechard primarily tells the grimly compelling story through a striking series of stark black and white photographs; this blunt, inventive and unconventional no-frills minimalist approach really gets under your skin and leaves a haunting lasting impression. Moreover, Bechard handles the sordid subject matter with admirable taste and restraint; a fair share of what transpires is left to your imagination and is that much more powerful as a direct result of this. The plot has an extra unsettling edge to it because it's so frightfully plausible; it's the sort of thing that could actually happen and probably does indeed occur all the time. Maya Rossi's spare, moody score and Mary Remington's grave, husky narration both further enhance the overall sterling quality of this exceptionally potent and disturbing knockout.
