Yet another thrilling A24 film was released to theaters at the end of March, starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega.
“Death of a Unicorn” follows the interesting and magical journey of Elliot (Rudd) and his teenage daughter Ridley (Ortega) as the pair travels to the Canadian Rockies in an attempt to solidify Elliot’s new job offer.
On the way there in a hurried frenzy, Elliot hits and kills a unicorn with magical healing properties. Panicked, the two load what they assume is the dead creature into their car and make their way to Elliot’s boss’s mansion.
After the unicorn revives itself, the boss’s family, now aware of its presence and healing abilities, starts planning how they can profit from the creature’s magical blood.
Without second thought, they hire scientists and put together contracts all the while calculating the mass amounts of money they will receive from their discovery of the unicorn.
While the family plots, Ridley is hard at work researching unicorns and learning about their folklore. She makes a startling discovery that may align with the group’s current situation, and the outcome does not look great.
She warns them repeatedly of the harm they will encounter if they keep up what they are doing, but no one wants to listen to her.
In all of its gore and humor, “Death of a Unicorn” is highly symbolic of the greed behind many medical companies and the privilege of the wealthy in regards to accessing healthcare.
The goal of the wealthy characters in the movie is to capitalize off of their finding and make a profit. They do not care to save lives, only to make money. The high prices are also only available to the white and wealthy, and not to people like Ridley’s Latina mother, who died due to her lack of access to treatment and medicine.
To avoid too many spoilers, I’ll shy away from saying much about the ending of the film. I will say that two more unicorns do appear, very vicious and out for blood, and it is surprisingly gory.
The ending is a beautiful father-daughter moment followed by a sassy end credits song by St. Vincent that makes you go “What did I just watch?”
Initially after watching the movie, I had mixed feelings. Some parts felt a little cheesy and I wasn’t so sure about the CGI unicorns, but after sitting on it for a while, I think I really enjoyed this film.
Taking a movie about magical unicorns who can’t die and turning it into a commentary on the U.S. healthcare system is very impressive. Anything Ortega touches I am also immediately always a fan of, considering her brilliant acting.
Not to mention, the unicorns were so diva and changed colors towards the end of the movie. I don’t think it can really get any better than that.
5/5 stars
oparisi@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @deathofaunicornmovie, Instagram
