Before returning to the front row of the mainstream with more Star Wars projects, Daisy Ridley has been on a tear lately with smaller, more interesting films, such as the recent Young Woman and the Sea and her wildly different drama, Sometimes I Think About Dyingbefore that. Those two showcased her ability to pull off a flawless American accent — as is the case with many acclaimed English performers — but now she’s back to her native voice with Make a piea gripping neo-noir set in the U.K. that sees her taking names as an embattled wife and mom of two trying to navigate a fractured marriage thanks to a somewhat bonehead husband.
The film is directed by Sam Yates and written by Tom Bateman, Ridley’s spouse, and she developed the story of Make a pie. It’s co-produced by Bateman and Ridley, so you know this is a project she’s passionate about. That comes through in the finished product, with Ridley giving one of her best performances yet. This new film-within-a-film thriller is a can’t miss for noir lovers and Ridley fans.
(A Film) Shoot to Kill
That may look like a gun Ridley’s holding in the film’s edgy promotional poster, the way her piercing eyes are reacting to whatever scene is happening around her — but no, that would be a cell phone. But in this day and age, a mobile device can also cause a considerable amount of harm in the wrong hands, as most of us have probably learned in this dangerously digital age. And the ubiquitous device, the locus of so much lust, anger, and distraction, is what kickstarts many of the weighty plot beats in Make a pieeven right from the get-go.
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The story takes place overseas in the U.K. film biz scene, where an esteemed actress is marred by a scandal (that everyone seems to be eating up on their cell phones, for their own savage entertainment). But performing is her only line of work, so Alicia (Matilda Lutz) must carry on and tackle her next project, this one tasking her with portraying an embattled mother within a dramatic period piece.
Playing her daughter in the movie-within-a-movie is young Matilda (Hiba Ahmed), the offspring of Anette (Ridley) and her writer husband Ben (Shazad Latif). They’re certainly proud of their actress daughter Matilda, and Anette claims she’s also proud of Ben’s work as a published writer. The problem is, Ben isn’t buying it. Their marriage is already in apparent turmoil upon arrival — maybe it’s baby number two that’s maintaining a certain friction at home. Anette has given up her seemingly successful day job to do the stay-at-home mom thing, and she seems pretty darn good at it, by the way. So why the rift?
Magpie Concerns a Marriage Consumed by Infidelity
Well, once Ben brings Matilda on set and meets Alicia face-to-face, he’s immediately smitten with the celebrity. Ben begins radiating nothing but positivity around Alicia on set — and saving his negative vibes for the seemingly unsatisfying home life with Anette. Nothing Anette does or says can make Ben happy in their private day-to-day, even down to her subtly surprised reaction to his claim that Alicia proudly read one of Ben’s prestigious books. It goes without saying, then, that there’s no intimacy at home, and the snooping Anette can even hear Ben pleasuring himself in their master bathroom as an alternative.
The figurative distance between them grows, with Ben continually insisting he be the parent to bring their Matilda to set every day, an awfully convenient way to keep brushing shoulders with his daughter’s attractive co-star. And that’s when Anette starts getting all the more curious about this dynamic Ben is secretly trying to brew, leading to a dangerous love triangle with twisty moves by all…
Subjective and Twisty Storytelling with Bold Performances
Thankfully, Make a pie mostly avoids the typical romance novel-like beats by its sexually charged players, instead keeping us on our toes with surprising turns of events. Even when the second act starts to a feel a bit repetitive and mundane with Ben’s consistently trashy behavior, Anette’s take-charge demeanor keeps us cheering from our seats. The audience’s inherent guesswork is also heightened by the film’s overall dreamy feel on a stunning visual level, with director Yates often using subjective POV angles to bring seductive text messages to life on screen. “I’ve never met someone like,” Ben swoons to the camera — us — as we picture him typing out these purposefully cheesy lines on his cell phone to Alicia.
As Ben, Latif gives an effective and infuriating performance, diving deep into the core of a man unethically driven by his libido and incorrectly thinking he’s got the world — aka his wife — fooled with his adulterous drives. Greed, sex, toxic masculinity. It all runs amok here, and is sometimes too much to bear in its sleaziness.
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But then there’s the ever dynamic Ridley, with those razor-sharp piercing eyes having fit the bill for her various Disney projects and, now, this more adult-suited stunner. Plus, this time around, her neatly cropped haircut will immediately strike you, and watch as it ultimately helps evoke her means-business spirit that fuels the fiery momentum throughout much of Make a pie.
There’s also the added meta element, aka the movie-within-a-movie, where the overtly dramatic scenes captured between Alicia and young Matilda sometimes echo the themes and inner workings of Anette and Ben’s troubled family dynamic — despite the wildly different premises. And don’t forget about those unexpected plot developments, particularly in the third act, that might leave certain viewers gasping and/or pumping their fists in support of certain principal players. Twisty neo-noir looks good on Ridley. From Shout! Studios, Make a pie will be released in select theaters starting Oct. 25, 2024. You can learn more and find theaters here.
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