Pin Cushion

Writer-director Deborah Haywood makes her feature directorial debut with the surreal and whimsical mother-daughter nightmare Pin Cushion, driven by a singular vision and masterful control of a unique tone, which tiptoes the line of beauty and terror.

Haywood's formidable first feature is at once a ruthless dissection of cruelty, capturing the relentless torment of outcasts for the pleasure of self-styled superiors, and a warm evocation of an interdependent mother-daughter bond.

Haywood digs into her own teenage memories and unearths something eccentric, tragic and utterly unclassifiable.

It's not always an easy watch but it's a sensitive, assured film with characters you'll warm to and root for.

At its core, this is a story about bullying and mental illness and being disconnected from reality.

Taking a very dark turn late in the second act, Pin Cushion's eccentric craft-fair aesthetic is ultimately protective cushioning wrapped around a broken heart.

...dark, weird, uncomfortable, sad, and occasionally dangerous.

An equally tragic and funny, magical realism and coming-of-age story, odd and creatively refreshing. It is a film unlike anything we've seen before and deserving of our attention.

... overdoses on quirks and relies on thin supporting characters, then adds a shocking twist at the end that's never fully earned.

For sheer distinctiveness of vision, and for the visceral portrayal of how it feels to be bullied, first time director Deborah Haywood deserves plaudits, as do her two lead actresses. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next.

Doesn't take it easy on the viewer, but there's plenty here to admire, including two sharp performances gracefully interpreting a slow descent into parental and teenager Hell.

The performances and Haywood's detailed images give intensity to the story's pessimistic vision of life, but it's still pretty facile.