The most important thing about art—the thing we can often forget under the pressures and expectations of our daily lives, increasingly more pressurized by the day—is it’s supposed to be fun. Art is, above all else, a creative outlet designed around the idea of expression both shared and individual in a way little else is. We communicate most effectively through art because it is both mask and mirror. Here, we can put the truths of ourselves on display like nowhere else. But it is also, and often, meant to be fun.
To be an artist is to build your own playground, then run wild in it. Film festivals are some of the most endearing and creatively inspiring places to be because they invite you on a tour through the playgrounds at the hearts of everyone around you. When they allow themselves the freedom from genre constrictions, it opens doors for everything, and audiences are all the more rewarded for it.
Chattanooga Film Festival is especially good for this sense of varied and communal joy every year, and one of it’s most memorable delights is Justin Petty and Amy Anderson’s SOMEONE DIES!. The 2024 Chatt Fest has been all about unexpected surprises for me, and perhaps the best of them is SOMEONE DIES!. Directed by Petty and written by Petty and Anderson, SOMEONE DIES! is every apartment renter’s worst nightmare. A detective with daughter issues busting into your home while you’re minding your business, conducting a run of the mill sword sale, a landlord with butterfly knife skills, a kitchen garbage disposal beyond repair. Oh. And the neighborhood wizard who keeps stealing all your chairs.
Your average rental experience, maybe, but also some of the most fun you’ll ever have watching a movie. The chemistry between all three leads—Glenn (John Wessling), the owner of the apartment with a time-warp disposal; Jane (Amy Anderson), a woman in search of a seppuku sword; and The Detective (Joseph Graham), a man who must learn some hard lessons about family—is magical right from the start. Sprinkle in Ivan the (Not-So-Terrible) butterfly knife wielding landlord (Adam Edwards) and you have a goopy, hysterical, and surprisingly heartfelt good time.
While it works as an isolated watch, SOMEONE DIES! just feels like the kind of movie tailor-made for watching with a group of friends for maximum enjoyment. It embodies the spirit of fun that comes from making something crazy with your friends and putting it out into the world. One big, messy, ridiculous inside joke we’re all invited in on. The kind of thing you come away from buzzing with creative energy to follow suit and grab your nearest group, to throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. It’s got joy, anger, heart, butterfly knives, and some really messy time travel. And someone, definitely, dies.
Catch SOMEONE DIES! on the virtual Chattanooga Film Festival platform now, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for a future wide release.
Tags: Adam Edwards, Amy Anderson, Chattanooga Film Festival, Chattanooga Film Festival 2024, Film Festivals, John Wessling, Joseph Graham, Justin Petty, Someone Dies!
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