Russian Doll (2016)

Russian Doll: Directed by Ed Gaffney. With Melanie Brockmann Gaffney, Kristine Sutherland, Sarah Hollis, Marem Hassler. Russian Doll is a female-driven, sexy, edgy crime thriller about revenge. The story begins when a young woman discovers a murder plot, and calls 911. But seconds into the call, she’s attacked and abducted. The police investigation into the woman’s disappearance leads them to interrogate the cast and crew of a play called ‘The Russian Doll.’ What the cops don’t know is that like a Russian doll, one of the people they question is a killer hiding in plain sight, preparing to avenge a thirty-year-old crime by murdering a cast member on opening night. And what they also don’t know is that if they don’t act quickly, the kidnapped woman will die, too. Running throughout the movie is a subplot focused on the lead detective, Viola Ames. Viola’s wife died two years earlier, and Viola has never really recovered. During her investigation, Viola meets a beautiful young lesbian named Faith. Despite her best efforts to maintain her distance, Viola is strongly attracted to Faith, and struggles to reconcile that attraction with her loyalty to her deceased wife.

“Whenever a film feels the need to tell its audience what kind of film it is (i.e..u0026quot;A Thriller), it usually means trouble. Unfortunately, Director/Writer Ed Gaffney falls right into this trap, presenting a less than u0026quot;thrilleru0026quot; story about beat cops Viola (Melanie Brockmann Gaffney) and her partner EJ (Sarah Hollis) on a mission to find the kidnapped Darlene (Aly Trasher), who stubbles upon a murder plot regarding u0026quot;The Russian Dollu0026quot; play currently in production. Doesnu0026#39;t sound interesting as I explain it, wasnu0026#39;t interesting when I watched it. Because this is a Wolfe Video Presentation, it has a LGBTQ theme. Enter, Faith (Marem Hassler) who provides the love interest to Viola and the necessary sensual dream sequences. To a fault, Gaffney spends to much time setting up location shots, is heavy with his dialogue, and his several sub-plots/characters arenu0026#39;t very interesting nor convincing. Within every film, however, there is almost always some good, and here it come in the form of the original music by Jack Gravina and Daisuke Kimura. LGBTQ community or not, I wonu0026#39;t be u0026quot;rushu0026#39;nu0026quot; to see this one!”