Part noir thriller and part punky comic-book subcult story, this Canadian-made debut from writer-director Avan Jogia is a bit hit and miss but impressive all the same. Credit is due as much to lead Hayley Law, better known as a recording artist, who has a knack for deadpan line delivery and a tremendous screen presence.
Law plays Mouse, a young graphic artist who draws pornographic stories for a very niche indie comic book market. It’s not making her a lot of money so she also performs in a shady burlesque-strip club run by strict but protective matriarch Mama (Famke Janssen, adding some serious horsepower to the ensemble). Mouse has a weird platonic bond with Ugly (Keith Powers), whose name is an obvious misnomer. He follows her around all the time and is almost ignored by everyone else, to the point where I was expecting his function to be a Fight Club-style projection device, but it turns out he is real.
Mouse’s fellow performer Doe-Eyes (Nhi Do) suddenly goes missing one night, and Mouse decides to investigate, with Ugly in tow. As she uncovers a criminal network that points to, among other heinous crimes, sex trafficking, Mouse dispenses a hardboiled narrational voiceover that recalls Raymond Chandler by way of Tank Girl. When things get really gritty, the film switches out to black-and-white animation sequences, like comic frames come to life, meant to represent Mouse’s own splotchy inky style.
Jogia’s script is a half-twist short on impact and adheres to an entirely predictable arc, but the dialogue is pretty snappy and it all looks good thanks to Nicole Simmons’ authentic-feeling production design and sculptural cinematography by Mike McLaughlin. It occasionally feels a bit like an extended music video, but what’s there is a bop and it’s watchable throughout.
• Door Mouse is released on 10 July on digital platforms.
