When we think of the word “gluttony”, more than likely the first image in all of our heads is something tied closely with food. Whether it be the strange attempt by America’s Next Top Model to make the seven deadly sins into high fashion or the especially grimy sequence from SE7EN, food-centric gluttony has dominated popular thought for so long it can be easy to forget that the concept also applies to excess in general. Fortunately, the filmmakers of Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Gluttony block are here to make sure that bad taste in your mouth also finds its way into your brain, through studies of excessive consumption of all kinds, and the complex relationships that harbor food at their centers.
Taking no time to ease us in, writer-director Christine Pfister’s “Ghoul Log” is a nightmarish stop motion with handmade disproportional puppets in which a group of insatiable cannibals consumes first their entire dinner spread, then one of the prisoners suspended in a birdcage at one end of the table. From first moment to last it’s a confrontation of the senses, with a little magic threaded along the way. Pfister’s work is truly a visual marvel lightly akin to the sort of folkloric dread-filled imagery of Jan Švankmajer’s ALICE and a wonderful way to set the tone for the rest of the block’s offerings.
With the horrific imagery of a feast still fresh in our minds, next comes writer-director Alison Pierse’s documentary “Three Ways to Dine Well”, in which she explores the three types of relationships most often depicted in horror film through the lens of films created by women. From dining as communal and connective to table as trap, “Three Ways to Dine Well” is remarkable both for its unique approach and subject knowledge and for its ability to instill dread through simple film clips. Could have been just me, I suppose, but with a goal of covering the topic in film as far back as the ‘20s and as recently as last year, Pierse still managed to choose her “show don’t tell” moments perfectly. A particular sequence from TALE OF TWO SISTERS left me squirming and covering my eyes through the tension even out of context. Pierse’s post-credit film list is also a great addition for any scholar and film buff looking to explore her touchstones in full. Perhaps ironically, the one thing I wanted from “Three Ways to Dine Well” was that it should be a full-course, feature length experience.
What do you get when you cross a girls’ weekend, an uninvited guest, and a decades old party drink? The answer, writer-director Shannon Brown’s “Demon Juice” posits, is a possession narrative that leans heavy on the ridiculous while also interrogating the touchy relationship dynamics of what happens when that one friend who has no limits or middle ground shows up to crash a calm environment. The excess on display here is not so much about consumption—though the Demon Juice in question is the source of the short’s most intense chaos—but about forcing excessive personalities and intense emotions to interact and combust. What ensues is hilariously graphic body horror with a gooey friendship at its center, serving a nice break before the descent into darkness that follows.
One of the Gluttony block’s content warnings is “In poor taste”, which felt, at the start, a bit like a pun that I couldn’t quite explain the reasoning for. Rebecca Kozak’s “Binge and Purgatory” seems to be the answer. The only short in the series to deal directly with an eating disorder, it seems to rely on turning bulimia into a joke rather than an illness. The toxic mother-daughter relationship at the center of this ultra-low-budget tale of excess is troubling enough at its opening, but when the daughter is punished for her actions by being forced to eat her own tongue it becomes a strangely distasteful experience on a whole new level. A revenge narrative of sorts, it’s a prime example of giving filmmakers the space to tackle subjects most try to pretend don’t exist, for better or worse, and confronting audiences with realities through the lens of extremity.
Phobias are an expansive playground for horror, yet for the most part only very particular types of phobias are explored over and over until they’ve carved space for themselves as subgenres in their own right. Misophonia, “a condition in which individuals experience intense anger and disgust at sounds made by humans such as chewing, breathing, or lip smacking” is hardly ever explored, and perhaps for good reason. Writer-director Julianna Robinson’s Gluttony short “Misophonia”, written with Sean Kohnen, puts viewers on edge almost immediately by placing us in the shoes of a woman who suffers from the condition following the death of her husband. Trapped as we are in the auditory torture chamber it’s enough to drive anyone to the brink of madness. Fortunately, Robinson deftly crafts a tale that dances the line between freedom and entrapment with echoes of Poe that make the whole experience worthwhile.
Rounding out the Gluttony shorts is a haunting tale of excessive need, longing, and desire for connection unlike anything else that preceded it. Written and directed by Maria Martínez Bayona and based on the novella of the same name by Andrés Barba, “Such Small Hands” is an achingly poignant tale of loss and hunger destined to capture you from its opening moments and linger long after its end. Marina (Sophie Mullhall) is a new arrival at a local girls orphanage and, thus, an object of fascination and speculation. The other girls dance the line between icing her out and tentatively inviting her into their circles, never sure where they sit. Whether they love her or hate her. When she comes up with a new nightly game with amorphous and constantly developing rules that foster a sense of control and connection between the girls, what starts out as unusual but harmless fun soon descends into a dark dreamscape of excess possible only in the hands of those who grow into pain and longing. It’s a breathtaking, perfect way to end the block, and undoubtedly the strongest of the Gluttony shorts and one of the strongest in the festival.
Tags: Alison Pierse, Andres Barba, Binge and Purgatory, Body Horror, Christine Pfister, Demon Juice, documentary, Edgar Allan Poe, Film Festivals, Final Girls Berlin, Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Ghoul Log, Gluttony, Julianna Robinson, Maria Martinez Bayona, Misophonia, possession, Rebecca Kozak, Se7en, Sean Kohnen, Shannon Brown, short films, shorts, Sophie Mullhall, Such Small Hands, Tale of Two Sisters, Three Ways to Dine Well
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