The “must-watch” movie Milly Alcock needs everyone to see: “Absolutely incredible”
After her recent introduction to the world as Supergirl, it feels almost written in the stars that Australian actor Milly Alcock will become a household name over the coming years.
Her rise to the top feels destined with the upcoming reprisal of the role in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. But it’s not all about Supergirl. For a lot of people, Alcock is better known because of her turn as the young Rhaenyra Targaryen in the Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon. For more eagle-eyed fans, it’s her recent appearance alongside Julianne Moore in the Netflix dark comedy series Sirens.
Alcock looks like she has already secured her path to stardom, and that has also been influenced by her favourite films. Of course, a young actor dishing out recommendations doesn’t always end well. Sometimes it can be painfully awkward to watch them stumble their way through a Four Favourites or, god forbid, a Criterion Closet.
But if her list of cultural highlights in The Guardian is anything to go by, Alcock may be more clued in than some of her similarly aged counterparts. Among Tom Basden’s adaptation of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Eliza Clark’s transgressive novel Boy Parts and Billie Joel’s ‘Vienna’ was the 2022 Norwegian absurdist dark comedy Sick of Myself.
The film follows a young, narcissistic woman who, overshadowed by her artist boyfriend’s rising fame, purposefully gives herself a rare sickness in order to get attention. Alcock praises it as “clever, smart and self-aware, and hands down the most surprising film I’ve seen in years”.
Offering a critique of our present-ish moment with regards to social media, art and identity, it is another quirky film in a line of those focusing more heavily on dislikeable female characters. Think fleabag set in Norway with a little bit of body horror thrown in and much less of an emotional thread.
As Alcock points out, it’s brought to us by the same production company as Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Osla Pictures. The third film in his Oslo Trilogy, it is another look at the contemporary Norwegian female psyche, only the main character is perhaps more grounded in reality and much more likeable. Whatever your opinion of the films, they show the unique perspective currently coming out of Norway.
As someone who has primarily stayed on the mainstream side of the industry since she was a teen, these recommendations are somewhat surprising. However, it’s also a sign of hope for her fans who want to see her take on new kinds of challenges, maybe something just as unhinged as Sick of Myself, where Kristine Thorp takes us on a freewheelin’ journey into the depths of jealousy and attention-seeking behaviour, crafting a memorable and hilarious cinematic experience in the process.
Maybe it doesn’t need to be a dissociative feminist type film set in a place like Norway, but something a little more grounded in the real world than the likes of Game of Thrones and the DCU would surely offer us a glimpse of the emotional range we have gotten snatches of in her roles so far.
