Zebra Girl

An aggrieved spouse murders her errant husband in this micro-budget British psychological thriller, which cuts between the grisly aftermath of the crime and the killer's traumatic backstory. Sarah Roy takes the lead as the woman whose troubled past has left her with an increasingly fragmented take on reality. A key to her psyche is "Zebra Girl", a superhero story she wrote as a teenager, though her yearning for special powers may have led her down the wrong path. Director Stephanie Zari's choice of a slightly-too-pink décor signals that not everything seen can be trusted, and there's a teasing ambiguity at play as the drama tackles some heavy-duty subject matters. Some might cavil at the arguably lurid portrayal of mental illness, but the film shows consistent sympathy for its embattled protagonist as events slip out of her control.