Paradise Hills
Directed by:
Alice WaddingtonCinematography:
Josu InchausteguiComposer:
Lucas VidalCast:
Milla Jovovich, Emma Roberts, Eiza González, Awkwafina, Jeremy Irvine, Danielle Macdonald, Arnaud Valois, Johnny Melville, Liliana Cabal, Daniel Horvath (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
On an isolated island, Uma wakes up to find herself at Paradise Hills, a facility where high-class families send their daughters to become perfect versions of themselves. The facility is run by the mysterious Duchess where calibrated treatments including etiquette classes, vocal lessons, beauty treatments, gymnastics and restricted diets, revolve all physical and emotional shortcomings within two months. The outspoken Uma finds solace and friendship in other Paradise Hills residents — Chloe, Yu and Mexican popstar Amarna. Uma soon realizes that lurking behind all this beauty is a sinister secret. It’s a race against the clock as Uma and her friends try to escape Paradise Hills before it consumes them all. (Samuel Goldwyn Films US)
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Reviews (2)
The qualities of Paradise Hills are that it can be perceived as a feminist story of how several young women try to escape from a luxury island hospital (where their relatives sent them to deprive them of their individuality), and without the need for any men to come and save them. This is also a film that has a surprisingly distinctive and remarkable visual component for its feature debut, reminiscent of a mixture of Tim Burton and Tarsem Singh, including a rich trick set, colourful locations, and flashy costumes. However, these advantages are not balanced in terms of screenwriting (very simple plot and flat to silly dialogues), nor in terms of acting, which varies from confused (Emma Roberts) to completely clueless (Milla Jovovich), and unfortunately also the sluggish direction, which relies too much on visual gloss and fails in its storytelling from start to finish.
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Paradise Hills is a pleasant alternative to Disney’s grand tales about beautiful princesses and evil queens, enhanced with sci-fi themes from genre classics or Bay’s The Island. Though it is admittedly visually cheesy with downright childish costumes (without being explicitly intended for children), it is amusing, and I personally find Emma Roberts with pink hair rather electrifying, not to mention Eiza González’s lesbian affection for her! [Sitges FF]
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