Dementia rules the roost in The Rule of Jenny Pen, the opening night film of Fantastic Fest 2024. This New Zealand flick is utterly demented in concept and execution. It earned both best director for James Ashcroft and best actor for star Geoffrey Rush from this year’s jury.
Primarily set within the boundaries of the Royal Pine Mews care home, the film is populated with numerous patients suffering from various stages of dementia, while other residents are warehoused there for physical rehabilitation or the convenience of their relatives. There is one patient, however, who is viciously demented, whose mania terrorizes the other patients even as his cruelty goes unobserved by the staff.
The horrors of aging and incapacitated bodies are front and center in Jenny Pen. The most compelling aspect of the movie, however, is the twisted pas de deux between veteran actors Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. This is their show all the way. Rush plays an arrogant judge named Stefan who undergoes a stroke in his courtroom while in the midst of a sentencing. Next we find him at this rehab and retirement facility – distinctive mediocre, but the best his insurance will allow.
Stefan’s imperiousness is dealt a comeuppance by the indignities his failing body is forced to undergo. He quickly becomes the target of Dave Crealy (Lithgow), who rules the place with an assist from a plastic doll head he wields on his arm like a hand puppet. The doll’s name is Jenny Pen. To the staff, Dave appears harmlessly disturbed, but at night, Dave creeps into patients’ rooms to physically abuse and torment them. Stefan becomes Dave’s mortal enemy because the judge refuses to give in, unlike the other patients. Lithgow unleashes a torrent of lunacy that outdoes the extremes we have seen the actor reach in previous madman roles.
Accentuating the film’s madhouse vibes are the sounds and visuals engineered by director James Ashcroft, who co-wrote the film with Eli Kent and based it on a short story by Owen Marshall. (Ashcroft and Kent paired up on a previous thriller, Coming Home in the Dark, which played at Fantastic Fest 2021.) Distorted sound effects are accompanied by off-kilter camera angles and closeups, causing viewers to remain off balance throughout and uncertain as to what is real or the product of mental illness. Unfortunately, The Rule of Jenny Pen is narratively unequal to the powerful performances of Rush and Lithgow. The film makes a wan effort to discover Dave’s origin story, but never ties the strands together. It’s also unbelievable that Dave’s vicious behavior could go wholly undetected by the staff in this confined environment, and the bits and pieces we observe of the other patients add color without any insight. The knockout performances make the The Rule of Jenny Pen worth seeing, but there is not much more substance propping up this endeavor.
The Rule of Jenny Pen
New Zealand, 2024, 103 min.
World Premiere
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This article appears in September 20 • 2024.