Good start, but then it gets ruined

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is the case of a script that unfortunately leads to an "unbelievable" conclusion. Getting there is not much fun either, as the film plays like a minimal information puzzle. There are zero sympathetic characters, especially the unbearably wimpy husband. Since we never see the rape, which is motivation for the entire contrived plot, our housewife's revenge plan really is trivialized right from the git-go. The rapist himself is never even shown, until the moment of his demise. The entire production hinges on improbable events that simply cannot be swallowed as fact. So, what you have is a tedious build up to a conclusion that is not believable, and a movie that is not recommended. - MERK

Everything we know about "B movies" - lesser-known cast, low-budget, a made-on-the-cheap look and feel - is present, but we'll call this one a "B+" movie because it all works so well here. House wife Julie Kenner cannot function on any level; her cooking is a disaster, she can't face a party without panicking, she has a tenuous relationship with her 2 children and an even more tenuous one with her husband, with whom she hasn't had sex in a year. We have no idea what's wrong with her and wonder why her husband hasn't left her. Sure, she's beautiful and we are left to surmise this family was close once and could be again if the husband can just help Julie recover from whatever she's suffering from. She seems oblivious to everything except TV news broadcasts about identity theft, about the rape she suffered the previous year and about how the rapist is getting off with almost no jail time. Now that we know what's been bothering her we're wondering why she's forged a new identity, gotten herself a gun, rented an abysmal little apartment near a seedy little bar, taken up wearing a disguise and become a regular in said seedy little bar. Julie, who's been ice cold since this movie started, boffs the bartender one night then back at the bar pulls her piece out and shoots a young man dead - the man who raped her. She briefly returns to her family sans disguise then dons another one as she heads out alone on a bus as the closing credits roll.The way this tale unfolds, only giving us a little part of Julie at a time, is unique and tension builds so gradually we hardly realize it until we've been sucked in. Our dysfunctional heroine starts out uptight and introverted like a folded-up accordion, then starts to come alive as she turns into a walking mystery then a stalker and finally an avenger, as she murders the rapist who ruined her life and who society has refused to punish.This unusual story piques our interest, though the plot feels contrived and there are serious logical gaps, like how did Julie, once she took up her gun, disguise, apartment and new life as barfly, know the rapist would come to this bar? Another problem is the "bartender," who is actually an undercover police lieutenant. Why a police Lt. would be working full-time in this bar (don't sergeants and other lower-level officers do this undercover grunt work?) is never explained. Furthermore, Julie seems clairvoyant, as she used the cop/bartender, apparently knowing he'd let her commit murder right in front of him without even arresting her. Then there is that puzzling last scene, with Julie donning yet another disguise and taking off for God-knows-where on a bus all alone. All I can say is her poor husband! I've never seen a guy take so much crap from a wife, all the time supporting her to the hilt and all for nothing, as she seems to abandon her family at the end. Why did she leave like this, presumably without a word? Was she afraid that the police would eventually piece it all together and come looking for her? The logical gaps aside, this is an arresting (no pun intended) and riveting little flick. I found it in the bargain bin of a local video store almost 20 years ago and will no doubt watch it again some time.

Although this feels like a low-budget TV movie that you might find on a cable channel late at night, it is far more compelling and realistic than its adherence to that much maligned formula suggests. In fact, it is everything a TV movie is not: gritty, urban, slow-paced but suspenseful, engrossing yet unsentimental.The actors, mostly unknowns, do a fine job, especially Stephanie Rascoe as the misunderstood housewife heroine who takes the law and her own identity into places she never thought possible.Interstingly enough, the most compelling aspect of the film is the theme of identity. As a housewives, Rascoe's character is often seen engulfed by domestic chores, unable to get over her brutal attack. However, as her assumed identity, she becomes somebody else - a modern day femme fatale type that sits uneasily with the portrayal of simmering domestic inertia previously shown in the film. The ending is still shocking today and one of the most dramatic films you are likely to see. A minor gem.

This movie concerns a rape victim, who is having a hard time getting over her trauma, as well as realizing how victims of rape are harmed two-fold -- by the act itself and by public reaction afterwards. She sees a report on television on how some people change their identities, which catches her eyes for a few reasons, reasons we will fully learn about at the end of the film, though it becomes pretty clear about half way through.The film includes a few um hammy touches, including that kind of annoying dramatic music, but is an excellent character study with a twist. Not only does it do a good job showing the trauma of victims, even long after the crime, but it throws in themes of identity as well. The movie does not really have many surprises, though the ending is not as clear cut as a standard film of this type tends to be, but it was a joy (if I might use the word in this context) to watch for the performances. Definitely a good different little film to rent -- I just saw it for the second time, and yet again saw why I liked it so much the first time around.