A deeply sad, heartfelt, surrealist film that is very likely to be the most unique American film released in 2024, and even more likely to be misunderstood by at least 75% of its viewers. On the surface, it's one of the most locked-in mid-90's nostalgia pieces I've ingested, but beneath that it's one of the most complex coming-of-age films I can think of.
To me, the movie was an expression of the kids who grew up in dysfunctional families in the 90's (the TV generation), those who were drawn to dark media due to that (which was extremely prevalent in the late 80's up through the mid 90's), and in turn, those who ended up with a far deeper connection with those dark fantasy worlds than they had with most other humans, and reality as a whole. When it's time to grow up, things get rough...I can relate, because I was 100% one of those kids during that exact era, so this one hit a lot of buttons that made a lot of sense for me.
There are some impressively unique horror/monster effects in this film, that are equal parts comical and terrifying, simultaneously, which feels like yet another element that is heavily loyal to the era it is inspired by. This, along with many other elements, allow this movie to differentiate itself pretty boldly from everything else coming out right now. Common horror fans will likely just be confused by this film, which tends to be the case with most psychological horror films that actually offer anything with emotional purpose, but it offers plenty of cerebral scares and lots of melancholic gloom.
Leads Brigette Lundy-Paine and Justice Smith do an immense job of keeping things deathly serious and dreamlike, Smith almost feeling like he fittingly "can't handle being human" a lot of the time. There are several sequences where their performances bring the movie to a full Lynchian realm - of course this is also due to visionary director Jane Schoenbrun's skilled directing. Speaking of that, I just realized that the segment that feels most like a nod to Lynch in a multitude of ways is the one that features bands performing live at a strange club, much like the Road House in the last season of Twin Peaks. Kris Esfandiari of King Woman makes an especially strong appearance here. It certainly doesn't hurt that they put together a very tasteful soundtrack that feels very reminiscent of the classic movie soundtracks of the 90's. It's fitting that the movie and soundtrack begin with a Broken Social Scene cover, because the whole album kind of feels like a full Broken Social
Scene album, with similar dynamics and vibes throughout.
While it's truly hard to compare this to anything, it feels HIGHLY inspired by ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?, the Canadian kids horror program broadcast in the 90's on Nickelodeon, more than anything, while it's themes remind me only of a couple other movies, Pixar's INSIDE OUT, and the very wild SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. While I cried my eyes out at that Pixar movie, this one is too committed to its surrealism and gloom to induce actual tears, but the overall melancholy remains very heavy and very real throughout.
This is a movie about the weirdos who found solace in media for weirdos. Brilliantly, the movie itself is weird (and sincere) enough to be that exact sort of weird type of media that the new young weirdos may find the same kind of solace in when they watch this as a teenager in reality now. I think that might be the whole point. If it wasn't, then it's awfully masterful accident. That's 2 strikingly unique and effective psychological horror films by Jane Schoenbrun now, 2 for 2...I officially deem thee a visionary force to be reckoned with.
