This is an unusual murder mystery that properly leaves the viewer hanging until the last segments... when it becomes a convoluted tale in which it becomes difficult to determine if the story was masterfully told or jumped the shark.
Members of a literature club in an all-girl Catholic school attend a dinner and story-reading session, during which the details of the story slowly unfold as each girl reads a story she has written. Each story has to do with the recent death of a fellow-student and as the stories are read, the plot reveals. Or does it? As would be expected, there are plot twists aplenty with the typical "all things revealed" at the end.
However the reveal is so mixed up and detailed, one can easily get lost in the telling of the story during the last twenty minutes. The story is told (especially if we can pause and rewind to review parts difficult to understand), but the plot unfolds like an intricate origami that is suddenly pulled apart at the corners... in slow motion. In the end I was left with the feeling that they reached the destination but the ride was pretty bumpy.
I was going to give it 6 stars for unique concept and pretty decent directing and acting, but decided to drop it to 4 stars for a gratuitous sex act partway through that although revealing no nudity, is incongruous with the rest of the show and interferes with the flow and atmosphere of the story. Such could have been presented in a less-graphic format and in continuity with the rest of the film. As presented it felt severely out-of-place and (in my opinion) disjointed the film... enough to cost it 2 stars in my rating.
I don't give it more because the movie in general seemed to be a bit contrived in the resolution. in short, the last 30 minutes or so of the film were not as good as what came before and was somewhat of an anti-climax. It was an interesting film, but I can't really say it was a good one. Worth watching? That will depend on the viewer and how much you can tolerate of such fare. Some may enjoy this, but personally I found the end wanting.
