★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Being the only animated feature at VIFF, we had high expectations for Beauty Water. The promotional image on VIFF’s website plus the film’s promise of delivering grotesque body horror instantly had us intrigued. Based on the description, we expected a poignant commentary on how modern beauty standards have drastically made everyone, particularly women, focus only on the unobtainable. Typically films with these themes seek to remind audiences that what counts is inner beauty, leaving viewers with the feel good message that confidence and kindness are what ultimately prevail.

The bones are there for a good story but Beauty Water doesn’t deliver. Character motivations are questionable and the arcs are completely missing. Outside of physical alterations, it’s hard to name anything that changes in the protagonist, Yaeji, from the beginning to the end of the film (the secondary characters do not fare much better). Plot holes are quickly glossed over in order to move the story along, creating jarring scenes that so abruptly vary in tone it makes the film feel out of order.

All of this could potentially be forgiven if Yaeji was likeable or showed a desire to improve her relationships with others. But her constant outbursts (before and after the physical changes) and complete disregard for anyone else makes it impossible to like her. She is rude, abrasive, and demanding in nearly every scene. There is no inner beauty to be found, no lesson to be learned as Yaeji navigates her way through this half-horror, half-romantic comedy. The fact that there was nothing about her that made her ugly in the first place is completely overlooked by the characters and the film itself, leaving us questioning what exactly we were supposed to feel as this story unfolded.

Check out our (slightly more) in depth podcast review + rating below! Podcast music by Brian K.S. Cole.