The brilliant script is bolstered by absolutely mesmerizing direction. fforde never breaks the look of a 1970s, high luxury cigarette commercial, even when everything is crumbling around the perfectly manicured world. Throughout all of the short film static, fuzz, black lines, and the like appear to continually remind the viewer that this is a fake world being sold to you. Of course, that means the truth it speaks to how men with power lord it over others hits even harder. Even in this artifice, made to sell a better life, if only you use this one product, there is no escaping the vile deeds of men who view women as nothing more than objects to be possessed, used, and then discarded.
The cast is equally as talented and fantastic as every other facet of Ralph Styles Ultra. Burdett is impressive as the love-to-hate Luca. When people fall under his spell, it is understandable as he is charming, seductive, and alluring. It’s hard to pull off being both engaging and a manipulative monster, but he capably does so. Fischer imbues Anna with a certain tragic glamour. She knows walking over to Davina could be a mistake but does so anyway. Couple her silent resignation with her almost dispassionate recital of the commercial lines (how amazing the new, titular cigarettes are), and she quickly garners the viewer’s sympathies.
“…gleefully stabs the jugular of entitled, rich a******s who view women as objects…”
Cooper, who’s Davina looks lost at the bar when first introduced, is a revelation. In a few short minutes, she morphs from sweetly, naive to fully confident in her wants and needs that it is hypnotic. She shares a glance with a person at the end of the movie, which is heart-melting. Alexander Allin plays the bartender Rick, who becomes integral to the story at around the halfway point, and he nails it. Like a moth that gets too close to the lights and is zapped, Allin makes his character curious, perhaps too curious, and the audience buys every second.
Ralph Styles Ultra lovingly and perfectly emulates the 1970s commercial aesthetic in a hypnotically beautiful manner. Watson and fforde’s satirical screenplay gleefully stabs the jugular of entitled, rich a******s who view women as objects and nothing more. It tears down this mindset in a brutal yet amusing way, with a pitch-perfect ending. All of this is delivered with intense zeal and the right balance of seriousness versus tongue-in-cheek by a stellar, talented cast.
"…Even in this artifice, made to sell a better life...there is no escaping the vile deeds of men..."
