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With: Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, Nathaniel Lees, Thomas Sainbury, Ian Mune, Irene Wood, George Henare, Maaka Pohatu, Bruce Phillips, Holly Shanahan, Paolo Rotondo, Yvette Parsons, Ginette McDonald, Hilary Norris, Anapela Polataivao, Semu Filipo, Hannah Lynch, Nick Blake
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Written by: James Ashcroft, Eli Kent, based on a short story by Owen Marshall
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Directed by: James Ashcroft
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MPAA Rating: R for violent content including sexual assault, and some language
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Running Time: 103
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Date: 03/07/2025
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The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
Doll's House
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
James Ashcroft's The Rule of Jenny Pen feels slightly underdeveloped and it can border on cruel, but this fiendishly-directed horror movie is also a rare masterclass in acting from its two leads, both old pros and ready for anything.
Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) is a cynical judge who thinks nothing of berating victims in court. After suffering a stroke, he finds himself in the Royal Pine Mews Care Home, using a wheelchair and sharing a room with former rugby star Tony Garfield (George Henare). Believing that he's going to get better and go home soon, he treats his fellow residents with disdain.
He soon crosses paths with Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a resident with a sinister vibe. Crealy carries around an eyeless puppet of a baby doll called Jenny Pen, and talks in a squeaky voice from time to time. He appears in residents' rooms at night and asks "who rules?", to which the residents must reply "Jenny Pen." When Stefan refuses to play this game, it starts an all-out war between the two men. And no one is safe.
Based on a short story by Owen Marshall and directed and co-written by Ashcroft — both New Zealanders — The Rule of Jenny Pen is awash with unsettling angles, compositions, and nerve-jangling noises, everything designed to make us feel off-kilter and unsafe.
The judge recites Hemingway and Dylan Thomas but also suffers twitchy, nightmarish blackouts from time to time. Crealy laughs like a hyena at nature programs, crazy-dances to novelty records, steals the pureed orange-colored soup at lunchtime, and generally acts in an intimidating manner (he even flashes filthy, crooked teeth for an added bonus).
Both actors give their all, but the downside is that there aren't many layers to the characters. We're not really sure why we should be rooting for one over the other. Additionally, the movie occasionally veers into unsettlingly dark territory, which clashes somewhat with the movie's gleefully sinister tone. A character randomly catches on fire (after spilling liquor and trying to light a cigarette), Crealy forcibly tries to undress a woman while her husband screams, and there are other scenes of abuse and neglect.
Yet there's little question that The Rule of Jenny Pen is a well-made movie, and it is, for the most part, wickedly entertaining.
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