This year’s Chattanooga Film Festival has been all about eliciting visceral reactions from the audience, from found footage jump scares to exceedingly brutal slashers, to blood-spattered horror comedies. Consequently, it has been full of some rather surprising hidden gems. One such twisted offering is the squirm-inducing TEARSUCKER. Written by Sam Brittan and directed by Stephen Vanderpool, TEARSUCKER follows woman recovering from an abusive relationship and the manipulative psychopath who preys on vulnerable women and gorges himself on their tears.
At first blush that may seem like either the kind of movie it feels a little dangerous to make right now, or something that borders more closely to schlock, but if you know anything about me you know how much I love a good vengeance tale against just these kinds of predators, and I would never knowingly steer you wrong. What seems at first like it might be an unusual watch rather quickly cements itself as one that is uncomfortable in its effectiveness. With that in mind I feel it is important to note before going any further: TEARSUCKER is disturbing because it works as a dissection of abusive relationships and the journey it takes to make it out of them in as close to one piece as you can. It’s important to go in knowing it may be a hard watch if you’ve been in that situation.
That said, the performances in TEARSUCKER are what make it so successful. Its miniscule cast necessitates strong deliveries from everyone involved, and they more than deliver. Writer Sam Brittan’s turn as Tom, the titular predator, is immediately and consistently unsettling even when he’s hiding behind false charm. But the true standout performance is Allison Walter as Lilly, a woman still reeling and healing from her abusive past. The two play remarkably well off of each other, but Walter’s intricate dance between vulnerability and strength is a masterful portrayal of the complex range of emotions involved in this specific type of recovery. Going through this kind of experience changes your perception of everything on a fundamental level, altering how you view and interact with your surroundings and how you respond to and read other people.
The character of Lilly is so beautifully done because she is able to exhibit the full range of the emotional journey, from the performance of strength to hide the true depth of loneliness, to the attempts at trusting the first genuine-seeming person you find, the fear when you realize the reality of the trap, and the path to finding the strength to get out of it again. Uncomfortable as her journey is to watch, many of us who have been in this kind of situation before are sure to find strength in Lilly’s determination and honesty.
One of the things that makes both the performances and the film itself so effective is how understated much of it is. The depth of the brutality Lilly faces is only revealed to us slowly and in pieces. Tom, meanwhile, opens the film with an attack and is constantly putting his lack of emotion on full display. We feel his manipulations happening at our core, even while watching Lilly fall for them. This dance of perspectives makes the whole film feel like you’re watching something forbidden, almost, like you want to avert your eyes but can’t…but it also makes the payoff at the end all the sweeter. The path to the reward is slow and brutal, but if you know your limits and feel like you can hang in for it, TEARSUCKER has some of my favorite ending lines of the festival’s films.
It is now playing on the Chattanooga Film Festival’s virtual platform, but TEARSUCKER is also available on DVD and VOD July 7th.
Tags: Allison Walte, Chattanooga Film Festival, Horror, relationships, Sam Brittan, Stephen Vanderpool, Tearsucker
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