Independent film festival season is one of my favorite times of year, and Final Girls Berlin Fest is off to a strong start with the first of its “Seven Deadly” short film blocks. This review series will cover each of the seven themes, one dip into darkness at a time. First up is a series of shorts tackling the concept of “Social Ills”, particularly with a focus on the anxieties surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, and…just trying to live your life as a woman existing at night time. From first to last, these stories are guaranteed to have you squirming in your seat with all kinds of emotions. So, let’s dig in.
First up is “The Goldfish”, written and directed by Ashley Paige Brim. Audre (Diarra Kilpatrick) and her partner Jason (Cedric Sanders) are trying for a baby. As they prepare to attend her sister Sara’s (Murisa Harba) birthday party, Audre asks Jason to keep their attempts a secret for now. Once they arrive Audre is thrown headfirst into a world of women—including her sister—in all stages of motherhood, from pregnancy to toddler-wrangler. Surrounded by what feel like unfamiliar faces and casually iced out by women who don’t know how to approach her, Audre begins to reckon with her identity as a Black woman who grew up adopted into a white family and her staunch refusal to trace her birth family as she contemplates the pressing reality of creating a family of her own. What unfolds is a sharp, poignant tale of what it means to love someone and the scars that remain in the face of feeling abandoned.
Where “Goldfish” is a study in longing for (and somewhat fearing) connection, writer-director Thirza Cuthand’s “Kwêskosîw (She Whistles)” embraces the fear and connection across a culture through a story tied together by the Nêhiyaw teaching, “If you whistle at the Northern Lights, the Ancestors will come take you away”. Stephanie (Sera-Lys McArthur) just wants to get home after a night out. The cab driver (Aidan Devine) has other plans. As she fields a series of probing questions and mocking laughter, Stephanie starts to realize the path he’s driving is taking her out to isolation. She soon finds the only way to escape his clutches is to risk her superstitious beliefs and call for help from the only people who might help her. “She Whistles” is a dark tale of lightly mystical retribution that is as uncomfortable to watch as it is rewarding. A bittersweet look at the ways women fight for themselves and one another in the face of a power that seeks little more than to use them and toss them aside.
When was the last time someone asked you to smile? Were you going through an emotionally devastating time? Or just minding your business? Did you obey the request? Writer-director Joanne Tsanis approaches the plight of women being made to smile even at their weakest times through the lens of a creature short. Anna (Konstantina Mantelos) is emotionally drained. In the face of a personal tragedy she goes through the motions of her nightly routine while a voicemail from her mother mourns the loss of her smile. It’s unclear how much time has passed since the last happy moment, but we are led to believe Anna is going through a depressive episode. As she goes to bed, the specter of her mother’s mourning looms over her in the form of the Greek god of impending doom, Moros. Trapped in a state of paralysis, she will be made to smile, whether she wants to or not. “Smile” is a short, sharp look at the consequences for forcing false emotion from someone who simply isn’t ready to give it. And the creature effects from Butcher Shop FX Studio just might be enough to turn your smile into a scream.
Pregnancy is one of life’s most complex steps. Whether it’s wanted or feared, chosen or not, it looms large over a woman’s entire existence. It makes sense, then, that half the “Social Ills” block would present stories with pregnancy and childbirth at their center. The first approached it through the lens of an intimidating possibility (what if you don’t like the person you’re meant to love who is a part of you?). Writer-director Selina Sondermann’s short, “Dedication”, examines pregnancy and childbirth as something worth protecting. Martha (Raquel Villar) is on the run from her abusive father. Following a violent confrontation with him she fears she has lost her baby. But, when she takes a job as a hotel maid and meets some women there who set out to help her settle in, she discovers she’s still pregnant after all. She is introduced to Mama Delorme (Buenaventura Braunstein) who, in a ROSEMARY’S BABY-esque way, helps Martha bring her child to healthy term. Mama Delorme’s process is both rewarding and stomach-turning to watch unfold, and while it circumvents some uncomfortable questions regarding fatherhood, “Dedication” is ultimately a narrative of a woman freed in nearly every sense, living a life she wants on her own terms.
Where “Dedication” is hopeful, writer-director-animator Carolina Sandovik’s “The Expected” is both monstrous and vaguely bleak. It’s a credit to stop-motion-as-nightmare-fuel that depicts a woman going through the trauma of miscarriage and her partner’s coming to terms with the fact that some things can’t truly be saved. From a literal hollowing out to an anxiety-ridden attempt to rescue, childbirth and failure in “The Expected” is a haunting affair.
The last stop on Final Girls Berlin’s “Social Ills” rollercoaster is a tale equal parts enraging and sweet. “Beta Male: The Tale of the Dark L”, written/directed by and starring Marianne Chase is the story of a woman on a late shift simply minding her business and trying to eat some chocolate cake on her break while working to clean the local cinema. There would be no story if she were left to enjoy herself, however, and soon enough a creep who has hung around afterhours just to hit on her makes his presence known in the most annoying and vaguely intimidating way he knows how as a privileged man: approaching her with pointed comments and backing her into all manner of corners. Audrey, determined to win her quiet time with her slice of cake, has secrets of her own that she’s much better at hiding. The anger that boils at the heart of “Beta Male” is offset by its payoff, but such strong emotional reactions are always a testament to the filmmakers’ and actors’ abilities. And besides, what a wonderful lead into the next short film block theme: Wrath.
Tags: Aidan Devine, Ashley Paige Brim, Beta Male, Buenaventura Braunstein, Carolina Sandovik, Cedric Sanders, Dedication, Diarra Kilpatrick, Film Festivals, Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Goldfish, Joanne Tsanis, Konstantina Mantelos, Marianne Chase, Murisa Harba, Raquel Villar, Rosemary's Baby, Selina Sondermann, Sera-Lys McArthur, She Whistles, short films, Smile!, Social Ills, The Expected, Thirza Cuthand
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