The black comedy thriller "Promising Young Woman" was originally released theatrically near the end of 2020, but the Port Townsend Film Festival's ongoing "Focus Film" series is bringing it back at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, at the Balcony Theatre, in Suite 401A at 211 Taylor St. in Port Townsend.

This film deals with the gaslighting that women are put through, when their testimonials are dismissed as merely one half of a "he said, she said" set of dueling accounts, as the "Promising Young Woman" of this film's title, 30-year-old medical school dropout Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas (Carey Mulligan), proactively metes out her own unique form of justice against predatory men.

The backstory of the initially enigmatic Cassie in "Promising Young Woman" unfolds organically, as we learn not only why she dropped out of medical school, but also why she spends her nights pretending to get falling-down drunk at clubs, so that men who don't care if she's sober enough to consent can try to take advantage of her.

"Promising Young Woman" lets its viewers know how much of an inversion of the male gaze it's going to be when it opens with a closeup of a herd of middle-aged men's dad-bods, focusing exclusively on their khaki-clad pelvises as they thrust away to dance music.

"Promising Young Woman" weaponizes the innate likability of its male stars against the significantly less likable characters they play, as Christopher Mintz-Plasse — marking even more of a departure from "McLovin" here than he did in the "Kick-Ass" films, by playing the kind of self-important aspiring writer whom you can tell is way too into Charles Bukowski — speaks for all his fellow would-be sexual predators when he repeatedly claims, "I'm a nice guy."

Because while many of these male characters spout casually sexist opinions without a second thought, it's easy to see how they could come across as "nice guys," especially given how many of the actors playing them you're likely to recognize from the funny, friendly guys they've played in various comedies and teen dramas over the years.

Made-for-Lifetime TV movies trained multiple generations to be wary of overly aggressive men, but none of the guys who take Cassie home are stereotypically macho, and some of them even seem genuinely sensitive at first, which makes it all the more dismaying when their ostensibly earnest concern for her welfare gives way to their desire to have their way with a girl whom they believe won't remember anything in the morning.

Carey Mulligan utterly owns almost every single scene of "Promising Young Woman," even when sharing a screen with formidable co-stars such as Clancy Brown (the Kurgan from the first "Highlander" film), Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's mom from the "American Pie" film series), Laverne Cox (Sophia Burset from "Orange Is The New Black") and even Annie Edison from "Community," Alison Brie.

For those who still remember her as a doe-eyed sitcom ingénue, it's shocking to hear Brie's character engage in vicious victim-blaming toward young women who get drunk and "sleep around," but even that moment pales in comparison to the sharklike momentum of Alfred Molina as a ruthlessly mercenary lawyer, who harassed young women into dropping their charges against the young men who raped them.

Mulligan and Molina's scene together plays out in a stunningly unexpected fashion, and the overwhelming power of Molina's performance makes it worth the price of admission on its own.

If you want to be blown away by a compelling, well-assembled film that doesn't follow any familiar template, then take advantage of the PTFF's "Focus Film" screening of "Promising Young Woman" this month.