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This Tempting Madness is a psychological thriller directed and co-written by Jennifer Montgomery
Simone Ashley has a new film coming out called This Tempting Madness. And this time, Diva is number one on the call sheet, so there is absolutely zero chance of her being cut from the film. I'm not saying we're holding a grudge, but Bridgetton season 2 was released 4 years ago, so Girl Math says she should have been in 12 new movies by now. But now we've got this new thriller releasing in cinemas at some point. We don't have a release date yet, but it's a thriller starring Simone Ashley. So, we are seated. We are showing up to the cinema and I have been able to watch this early, so I'm going to give you an early spoiler-free review on what it is that you can look forward to. This Tempting Madness is a psychological thriller directed and co-written by Jennifer Montgomery. This is her feature film debut. And for anyone who might be new here, I will say from the beginning that I tend to be a bit more lenient in how I judge a film if it is something that is independently made and it's the debut of that particular director, which in this case it is. The more that I look through the cataloges of various established filmmakers, if you look at whatever their first feature film in their filmography is, you're more or less always going to find humble beginnings and an underdeveloped voice and style compared to the filmmaker that cinnaphiles eventually fall in love with once that filmmaker hits more momentum and their artistic stride. I mean, yes, Citizen Kain was Orson Wells's feature film debut, but Orson Wells is an anomaly, and I don't think it's fair to expect a debut feature film to hit the same standards as something from an established filmmaker with far more experience and budget, just as a broad principle.
This Tempting Madness opens with Simone Ashley's character, Mia, getting injured
This Tempting Madness opens with a text overlay saying that the film was inspired by true events. And without going into specifics, the screenwriters did share after the screening I attended more information elaborating on that fact. Broadly speaking, they know someone in real life that was a point of inspiration for the character that Simone Ashley plays. Exactly 100% of my interest in this film stemmed from the fact that it would have Simone Ashley playing a starring role and in a whole new genre that I've never seen her in before. And let me tell you upfront, we have never seen her act like this. The range of emotions that she is given to play in this and how exceptionally well she expresses the highs and lows of this character. You have to see this on the big screen to get the full experience. This Tempting Madness doesn't have to reinvent the genre to deliver high drama and entertainment, especially when Simone Ashley's performance so thoroughly ramps up the tension and stakes. This is undoubtedly the earliest review I've ever done on my channel, and because of the nature of this story, I'm going to be evasive about what's in the film, particularly because there is an element of mystery woven into the narrative. So, I just think it would be unsportsmanlike to tell you how all of that unfolds. This tempting madness opens with Simone Ashley's character, Mia, getting injured. This injury is substantial enough that it fractures her memories. For the rest of the film, she has to simultaneously work on mending her physical and psychological self so that she can recover in a broad sense, but also piece together what exactly happened to cause those injuries.
The choices that were made for how to build tension and suspense
Mia spends a fair bit of the film's runtime going back and forth between memories, which may or may not be reliable. We, as the audience, have to sit in the suspense and question that. And she's also being proactive in trying to figure things out in the present day. The trauma of what happened heavily influences how she processes her emotions and memories, and this gives Simone Ashley so much more to play. For those of us who have been rooting for her as an artist ever since she blew us away in Bridgetton season 2, this is the first time that I've really felt like she's been given something to sink her teeth into post that show because this is a truly transformative role for her. Moreover, the choices that were made for how to build tension and suspense in things like the film's cinematography and the audio design, overall it was very effective. Without being specific, I will say that there are points where you can hear that Mia is injured and that technical detail was something that had me verbally responding to the screen and not in a disruptive way. I think balance is important when you're interacting with films in a setting where there are other people present at the screening besides just you. But I would occasionally say things like no, no, no, no, no, no. repeatedly because of things that happened with the audio, the narrative, and looking back on all of this, I would say that it was a good indication that the film was effective in immersing me in the story and stakes. Now, I don't enjoy watching women suffer, but I do enjoy a wellexecuted story of a woman unraveling when you have a skilled actor bringing that character to life. I don't know specific details about the real life woman who inspired this story or the character Simone Ashley is playing, but one thing I appreciated in hearing the director speak about the development of this film is that she was very clear about how there was no set criteria for the background of the performer who would be cast to play Mia.
Independent filmm is more likely to have a higher level of artistic freedom
Mia is the main character, so casting her is crucial to setting the film up for success. But from what I gathered, from all that was said, they simply allowed actors of any and all background to audition, and Simone was simply that exceptional that she earned the job on those merits. Mia's family is also part of the story. So, because of the fact that Simone was the one cast to play this leading role, this meant that it guaranteed that her family would also be played by South Asian performers. I really wish that more filmmakers and producers would be more open-minded in this sort of way. But this is all the more reason for us as the audience to support independent films and filmmakers because even though they aren't as likely to be given the level of budget that can be used to indulge in the most grandiose opulent production design and the scale of film making that requires an enormous budget. Independent filmm is more likely to have a higher level of artistic freedom that doesn't have to abide by quite as much corporate interference. The translation of that being producers who will justify their bigotry as claiming that it's simply a matter of not being profitable if they were to be inclusive when casting. Despite the fact that this tempting madness is only about an hour and a half long, it really felt as though a lot of material was covered, the fragmented recollection helped to keep the audience guessing about what was really going on, what secrets were being kept.
The way that the film gradually reveals various pieces of the story
For anyone who watches my reviews consistently, you will know that I love a good who done it. But also earlier this year, I did a review of the Prime Video series 56 Days. And in the process of preparing to review that, I ended up reading not only the source material book, but the other mystery books that were penned by that author, Katherine Ryan Howard. And one of the points of feedback I shared was that whenever it was a story that wasn't simply presenting the narrative in a linear format, if it would jump around in the larger timeline of events, that was a good way of enhancing the mystery because you couldn't as easily map out the trajectory of where the story seemed to be headed if you were only being presented with pieces at a time and out of order. This Tempting Madness does something slightly similar to that because of Mia's fractured memory, that inciting incident the film opens with, and the way that the film gradually reveals various pieces of the story and the nature of her injury sets her up to be a potentially unreliable narrator. We don't know if what she's seeing is real. Is she remembering things correctly, or is she mixing things up? I enjoyed how this element of mystery elevated the film beyond the more predictable formulaic thrillers that perhaps give the genre an unfairly negative reputation among viewers who have a reductive idea of what that genre is or has to offer. If you can hook me with a good mystery, you will keep my attention because I want to know what's going on. If you're keeping secrets from me, I'm not leaving until I know the truth.
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