‘Toxic’ Review: Unstinting Lithuanian Teen Drama Follows Catwalk Dreams In a Concrete Nightmare

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film Critic The mean girls of your average Hollywood teen movie wouldn’t last a morning in the ruthless adolescent playground of “Toxic,” where economic exploitation and unforgiving body image standards rule the bullies and their prey alike.

Set in an industrial Lithuanian town where even the asphalt has seen better days, Saulė Bliuvaitė‘s impressively tough-minded debut feature is uncompromising in its depiction of the punishment and self-abuse endured by girls enrolled at a fly-by-night modeling academy — where the vague promise of an escape to pretty much anywhere is enough to motivate frightening extremes of disordered eating and body modification.

Sobering but not without glimmers of tenderness and humor as female friendship takes root in a hopeless place, this Locarno competition entry can expect a healthy festival run, with interest from edgier arthouse distributors. “Toxic” promises something severe from its opening shot, as 13-year-old Marija (Vesta Matulytė) stands alone, tensely quivering in a bathing suit, in a high school changing room while her classmates verbally attack her — picking most cruelly on the limp she’s had from birth.

The high angle of DP Vytautas Katkus’ camera has the effect of pinning this already vulnerable figure like a specimen in a petri dish, though Bliuvaitė won’t always favor such forensic detachment.