‘Fingernails’ Review: Christos Nikou’s Head-Scratching English-Language Debut Squanders Fine Cast – Toronto Film Festival
deadline.comThe passing pleasures of watching the fine young actors Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White can’t make up for the increasing distaste that develops from contact with Fingernails, an irritating and, finally, ridiculous examination of relationship matchmaking carried far too far.
Greek director Christos Nikou won unanimous critical plaudits for his compellingly eerie debut feature Apples, which dealt with amnesia patients, and here again he appears drawn to troubled and mysterious states of mind that develop in the quest for love, commitment and some sense of security in modern life.
The film debuted at the Telluride Film Festival and screened at the Toronto Film Festival. If love means never having to say you’re sorry, as the 1970 smash hit Love Story ridiculously proclaimed, then the by-word for this new exploration of modern amour should be that love means letting your would-be soulmate yank all your fingernails out.
How the main characters finally arrive at this extreme state is the main point of curiosity in this nicely acted and, for a while, passably intriguing drama.
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