The philosopher Immanuel Kant once said, “Nothing of the bent wood of mankind was straight.” Undoubtedly, old age has even more distorted us. This certainly appears to be a Royal Pine Muse Care Home. This is a fictional New Zealand setting of many of the new films of director James Ashcroft, The Rules of Jenny Penn.
Adopting Eli Kent from Owen Marshall's short stories with films, Ashcroft begins his story with Jeffrey Rush as an unknown judge, Stephen Mortenson. He encourages young women related to criminal cases. “You are not a victim here,” these words come back to annoy him.
During his final sentence, he suffers a stroke, which lands him at the Royal Pine Muse. Although he is partially paralyzed, he is still mentally sharp and able to correct his fellow patients who misquot Shelley's poem “ozymandias.” However, he is not ready to deal with another patient, Dave Creeley (played by intentionally twitched John Lithgow). He threatens Stephen and the other patients with the help of a doll made of dolls made of baby dolls (particularly he's even more creepy).
Ashcroft's previous feature, Coming Home in the Dark (2021), was a tragic story of mercilessly uncomfortable and ultimately a family vacation that ended up being wrong. In this film, he expands the palette and offers twice as much terror. Creeley's torture of Stephen and Stephen's seemingly merciless mental degradation. The director remains almost benevolent with his approach and does not steer away from showing his vulnerable character (and Lithgow's performance in Twist Relish is ultimately just as vulnerable as anyone else).
Jenny Pen's rules
It is praised for its theme, language and intense fear. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In the theater.
