The Rules of Attraction

Tarantino's former writing partner belatedly follows up Killing Zoe with this coldly virtuoso tour de indulgence (if you will), taken from Bret Easton Ellis' college campus 'satire', which tracks three materially pampered lovelorn cynics through one winter's party circuit. A little like Gaspar Noé's Irreversible, it flips the time-line, though in a more bite-sized way, running sequences backwards for the hell of seeing vomit retreat into a mouth, as much as for any interrogative purpose. Also it has the same technical fizz, if not the wit of Fight Club. The leads and their accomplices look dead glam, but it's never clear whether their vacuity is a deliberate strategy. Certainly Avary's style seems all for instant gratification.