'Act One' Review: Sophia Takal's Thriller Explores the Dark Side of Acting Through a Young Protagonist

Writer/director Sophia Takal again turns her lens on her own craft — and all the people and their perversions within it — with another of her typically attention-clutching thrillers, 'Act One.'

A quietly watchful Ella Beatty plays a naive but not entirely guileless high schooler and aspiring actress who, after being passed over for a role in the class play, is drawn to a nefarious acting coach (Ari Graynor).

What makes the art and craft of acting such fertile ground to explore is that the job is as much tied up in what you do as who you are, where already fuzzy lines come even more disturb