Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, Oscar nominee Justin Timberlake, and Alicia Silverstone star in this moody, intricate New England–set noir in which the worlds of real estate, narcotics trafficking, and police work merge.
Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, Justin Timberlake, and Alicia Silverstone star in this moody, enigmatic, intricately plotted noir set in New England. The fiction feature debut from director Grant Singer, Reptile seethes with a captivating, doom-laden ambiance on par with the best of David Fincher or Denis Villeneuve.
When a realtor is stabbed to death in a show home, homicide detective Tom Nichols (Del Toro) has no shortage of suspects to investigate. The body was discovered by the victim’s boyfriend and colleague, Will (Timberlake), with whom she fought the night before. The victim’s ex (Karl Glusman), to whom she was still married, is possibly a drug dealer. Meanwhile, an eccentric man (Michael Pitt) with a longstanding grudge against Will and his family seems to take an unhealthy interest in the case.
All of these people have a motive, yet none of the existing hypotheses feel entirely convincing to Tom, who only recently relocated to Scarborough, Maine with his wife, Judy (Silverstone). The couple had been living in Philadelphia, where Tom was partnered with a detective convicted of several crimes.
Written by Singer, Del Toro, and Benjamin Brewer, Reptile is a pitch-black procedural where every new development seems pregnant with clues and every character we meet seems suspicious. The story brims with odd and intriguing details: recurring dreams, secret alliances, and unexplained injuries, all components of a larger mystery in which the worlds of real estate, narcotics trafficking, and police work merge ominously.
ROBYN CITIZEN
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival