Dystopian Lesbian Romance Is in Bafflingly Bad Taste

Film festivals are a great way to discover work by up-and-coming filmmakers, but anyone who attends these events regularly will tell you that you’re bound to catch a stinker or two. After all, film is a subjective artform, and you have to account for personal taste, along with some behind-the-scenes political deal-making. Well, Millicent Hailes’ Perfect is the rare film so bad that it’s hard to see what a programmer could have seen in this.

What is Perfect about?

Set in a world where the water supply has been contaminated, Perfect follows a woman seeking a fresh start who finds herself stranded at an oasis in the middle of the desert, finding an unexpected connection with a wealthy pregnant woman. However, her apparent utopia quickly begins to fall apart as secrets reveal themselves.

Perfect Review

The best way to describe Perfect is that it feels like a ninety-minute version of the terrible dystopian brain rot TikToks. You know the ones — the videos that create a ridiculous scenario like “You only get to say 100 words in your entire life,” and then create the corniest possible melodrama out of it?

Well, what really makes Perfect insufferable is that its premise is borderline offensive at worst and rudimentary at best. The film’s central idea of “What if SNAP but for water?” is downright baffling. Who thought that this was a socially acceptable concept? And while it might (generously) be excusable if there were some actual meat to the commentary, Hailes and Kendra Miller’s attempts to use this metaphor to explore class dynamics are rarely effective.

Instead, what we get is yet another forbidden romance. That’s not to say that the genre doesn’t sometimes have its charms, but it’s hardly charming to watch two characters who are this frustrating. Ashley Moore’s protagonist constantly makes frustrating and sometimes even inexplicable decisions, and Julia Fox’s love interest is almost cartoonishly toxic.

It’s a shame, because Fox is actually a pretty solid actress — she’s shown she can give a decent performance in movies like Uncut Gems and Presence. But do you know what the common link between those two movies is? The directors are very good. Pretty consistently, her work with younger filmmakers (like in last year’s Him) leaves something to be desired. Fox is apparently the type of actress who needs a strong vision from the director, and Hailes simply does not bring that to Perfect.

It’s harder to say where the shortcomings in Ashley Moore’s performance originate from, having less familiarity with her body of work. But what is clear is that she is not interesting enough to carry Perfect. A role like this, essentially that of a drifter, requires a quality of mysteriousness and intrigue that Moore severely lacks. Even worse is the fact that she cannot handle the emotional highs of the film whatsoever, leading to a performance that feels like it was ripped from the absolute worst version of a YA novel adaptation.

The only thing about Perfect that even marginally works is its aesthetic, and even that is a mixed success. Cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld does get a few nice shots, and the soundtrack has some solid pop needle drops that lend the film a much-needed energy. However, even if the film looks “good,” that doesn’t mean it necessarily looks *right.* The film never really convinces us that this is a drought-stricken dystopia — it honestly feels like any other thing shot in a desert.

Is Perfect worth watching?

It takes some real gusto to name a film “Perfect,” especially when it’s as bad as Millicent Hailes’ Perfect. This is, quite simply, one of the most misguided films this writer has seen in a long time, down to its premise. Although those who are satisfied with a lowest common denominator melodrama might find something to enjoy here, most audiences will not have a good time.

Perfect is screening at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival, which runs March 12-18 in Austin, TX.

Perfect SXSW Review: Dystopian Lesbian Romance Is in Bafflingly Bad Taste

Starting with its premise, which is rudimentary at best and downright offensive at worst, Perfect is an embarrassingly bad film on almost every level.