Boil almost any given story centered on female friendship down to its core and you’re sure to find envy. In a society that conditions us to constantly compete with one another, it’s only natural that such competition become the basis for an endless number of stories where more than one person is present. From the ridiculous to the unusual, the sexually motivated to murderous intent, Final Girls Berlin Fest’s Envy block has something for everyone, each more surprisingly unique than the last.
We open with “Red is the Color of Beauty”, written and directed by Beck Kitsis, a tale of two women after the same necklace in the jewelry department of a mall shop. A fairly simple premise, but a great start to the block, as it interrogates not only consumerism driven by desire, but also the persistence of beauty standards that have an unshakable hold if not on women specifically, certainly on culture aimed at a female audience. The lengths some would go to maintain such impossible, ultimately cookie-cutter standards even occasionally lead to violence, whether outwardly or inwardly directed. Knowing why we want something is almost not as important as simply having it so that someone else can’t, or so they can look on at us and feel their own absences, consequences be damned.
Obsessive desire for objects is one thing, but obsessive desire stemmed from unrequited love is an altogether different beast. More often than not it is even one of the branches of the ever-poisonous and prosperous true-crime tree. With that in mind we have writer-director Anatasha Blakely’s “Inch Thick, Knee Deep”. Quinn (Blakely), an English professor with a penchant for the dark side of Shakespeare confronts Adrienne (Whitney Morgan Cox) about her relationship with the love of Quinn’s life. All’s fair in love and war, and these violent delights, as they say, have violent ends. It’s one of the festival’s strongest entries, and perhaps the strongest on offer in the Envy category. Blakely’s portrayal of wronged and tortured Quinn is immediately high-octane unsettling, reaching a deeply disturbing crescendo in the short’s last few minutes. Her meltdown at the dining room table alone makes this an unforgettable and unmissable entry.
Speaking of envious lovers…writer-director Eva Muños’s “Hannya” brings an all-too-relatable scenario to life with the story of Ana (Anaïs Parelló) meeting her boyfriend Mathieu’s (Mathieu Lourdel) friends at a house party. Things start off comfortably, but when Marie (Sophie De Fürst), Mathieu’s oldest friend, shows up, the night descends into a drug-fueled party where Ana and Marie become closer while Mathieu is reprimanded by his friends for being in a relationship with Ana while clearly having feelings for Marie. In the throes of shed inhibitions the women’s final connection turns shocking, and Ana soon has to leave the party. Woven throughout is a Japanese legend of an oni who had her heart broken by a lover. “Hannya” examines the lengths women go to when competing for the affections of men who, usually, have little idea of what they want themselves and the ways in which women have been conditioned to twist themselves and misdirect their pain toward one another rather than outward toward its true source. Trigger warning for brief moments of graphic sexual violence toward the short’s end.
It’s not just friends and lovers who bloom with the poison tendrils of envy, however. Sometimes, it’s a family affair. Writer-director Juanma Costavetsky’s entry “Hermanas (Sisters)” is the unusual tale of Marta and María (Marta Tchai and June Valeyos) on the way to see their father. When they get stuck in the elevator, Marta accuses her sister of skipping her medication and suffering a break from reality. María, meanwhile, is convinced her sister is not real. What unfolds is an almost surreal dive into the psyches of both women. It’s a surprisingly complex look at the things we envy in family dynamics and how they can sometimes manifest.
Unconventional depictions are the name of the game for the latter half of the Envy block, and “Girls Night In”, written by Landon LaRue and directed by Allison Roberto, is both unconventional and a darkly hilarious satire about the Bechdel Test. Becca (Jess Adams) and Delaney (Skylar Benton) are having a casual pizza and wine night when an intruder breaks into Becca’s house. Trapped hiding in the bathroom, the women call the cops and, when they’re asked to describe their attacker, the night takes an unusual turn as they fight over which of them could successfully seduce him into letting them go. What unfolds is pure catfight chaos with consequences neither woman anticipated. In a strange way it has ties back to the dynamic of JENNIFER’S BODY, though there’s nothing supernatural at work here. What’s the weirdest place you’ve competed for a man’s affection?
I can with full and total confidence say there is nothing quite like writer-directors Mika Bar On Nesher and Mary Neely’s “Murderers Prefer Blondes” anywhere else in the festival. A charmingly rough, completely ridiculous direct descendant of Cecelia Condit’s “Possibly In Michigan”, it’s a tale of family infighting between twins (both played by Mary Neely)—one blonde and one brunette—for both life satisfaction and the love of Brett (a man-shaped mannequin, also voiced by Neely), the blonde sister’s boyfriend. The disgruntled brunette twin lets her rage out on her sister in the apartment stairwell and soon discovers getting what she wanted may not be the answer after all. One of the joys of independent film festivals is that oddball creations like this one are allowed to be tossed out into the world in search of an audience and support and left to grow on you with repeat viewings.
Whether lighthearted, blood-soaked, or somewhere in between, Envy proves its ground as rich for storytelling as ever in the hands of these weird and wonderful filmmakers.
Tags: Allison Roberto, Anais Parello, Anatasha Blakely, Bechdel Test, Beck Kitsis, Cecelia Condit, Envy, Eva Munos, Film Festivals, Final Girls, Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Girls Night In, Hannya, Inch Thick, Jennifer's Body, Jess Adams, Juanma Costavetsky, June Valeyos, Knee Deep, Landon LaRue, Marta Tchai, Mary Neely, Mathieu Lourdel, Mika Bar On Nesher, Murderers Prefer Blondes, Possibly in Michigan, Red is the Color of Beauty, short films, shorts, Sisters, Skylar Benton, Sophie De Furst, Whitney Morgan Cox
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