Edgar-Jones, of Normal People, stars as Noa, a woman who has been unlucky in love after multiple bleak dates. She can’t believe her luck, however, when she meets Steve (played by Sebastian Stan), at the grocery store. They flirt, exchange numbers and go on a date together, with the pair deciding to go on a romantic weekend away together. Sounds like the perfect love story, right?
But JoJo T. Gibb’s Mollie sums it up best when she says that Stan’s Steve is shady for not having any social media presence… I guess that means some light Instagram stalking is off the table for Noa. But things take a turn when she discovers that her new boyfriend has some questionable dietary requirements, and some equally weird ideas about dating. “It’s about giving… giving yourself over to somebody…becoming one forever” - that’s love to Steve, as he tells Noa.
Whilst most of the plot is kept under wraps from the trailer, the film is bound to be an intense ride. There’s a dangerous, mysterious air around Steve’s (most probably cannibalistic) life and dating style. ``Similarly, Edgar-Jones’s Noa seems resilient in trying to survive her boyfriend’s strange appetites. It’s not confirmed that Steve is a cannibal, but based on quick shots of a churning meat grinder and gluttonous men sitting down for dinner, it doesn’t take much to connect the dots.
The film had its original premiere at the 2022 Sundance festival in the Midnight program. Directed by Mimi Cave and written by Lauryn Kahn, the director said that she wanted to make a movie about modern dating that doesn’t play like a stereotypical rom-com. Fresh starts streaming on March 18th in the UK, streaming on Disney+.
