Moving the spirits of movies like The girls said again Art, Forbidden Fruits follows a group of young women who work in a shopping mall as they fight for control of the group, claim what belongs to them, and experiment with creativity. It’s a wonderful send-up of mall life where a coven operates out of the proper rooms of a hip store. But director and co-writer Meredith Alloway also keeps a sharp eye on the dynamics between the characters, how they manipulate each other and use their need for friendship as a weapon of punishment. The scary parts of the movie aren’t really witchcraft, it’s what we’re capable of doing to each other.
Apple (Lili Reinhart), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and Fig (Alexandra Shipp) – a trio known as Fruits – are the most popular girls in the store. They work at the trendy store Free Eden, where they hold secret events and cast spells as part of a pact called Paradise. When a promising new member, Pumpkin (Lola Tung), arrives, the power between the first three shifts as Apple struggles to maintain control. But there’s an ulterior motive to Pumpkin’s decision to join the coven, and the mystery only deepens with questions about what’s really going on with the fourth and final member of the group, Pickle (Emma Chamberlain).
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Based on the play by Lily Houghton, Forbidden Fruits it’s equal parts gang psychology and twisted horror movies. Alloway, who co-wrote the screenplay with Houghton, created the bubble world of Fruits – a place of overpriced accessories, gingham prints, trendsetting boots and questionable spells. There is nothing else but the mall and the difficult communication between co-workers who are forced to memorize each other’s coffee orders. Alloway’s sugary originality loses a bit of steam midway through the film when Pumpkin searches for answers about Apple, but picks up the pace during the final third of the film.
Each Fruit comes with its own personality. Like queen queen Regina George, Apple craves praise and feels threatened whenever her colleagues don’t bend to her whims. Reinhart portrays Apple with the hair-raising tension of insecure control that shines a rare vulnerability when Pumpkin, and by extension the audience, senses that the polished facade Apple wears in the store is an act. Cherry appears to model Amanda Seyfried’s character The girls saidnot with malicious intent like Apple or a trickster like him, but someone who is easily manipulated into listening. Pedretti adopts a breathy Marilyn Monroe-esque voice and plays dumb for laughs, but is one of the first to beg for some mercy. Although not easily pushed, Shipp’s Fig desperately wants to fit in with Fruits, keeping her new relationship a secret, an act of betrayal forbidden by Apple’s policy against talking to guys beyond emoji. Like Pumpkin, Tung created this persona so that he wouldn’t hesitate in his search for the truth behind Apple’s par. He starts off looking eager and excited to get in, but slyly, Tung and Alloway tease that there’s something else going on with Pumpkin. While the mystery is fun to combine and add its element of horror, the real treat .“Forbidden Fruit” is based on how easy it is to poison our need for friendship.
