Little Death
Little Death
There are a pair of films that are poles apart and are being made in Little Death. One is larger than life, rough around the edges and not all that brilliant but kind of stupidly entertaining. The other one is a depressing one, almost of a softer kind, and has a completely different message. To make such a decision and put both those films in one movie is quite baffling and one that those in authority don’t seem to be able to execute well. There were very few titles at this year’s Sundance Film Festival that were as audacious as these, but many appear to have been more accomplished. This is at best an unusual defeat.
Little Death wants to suck you into its campy lashed on viscerally visual and yet shallow Hollywood story, but then it also expects you to just as invest in a quieter narrative of some teenagers having issues with a bona fide burglary. That’s a difficult order to fill that is not in doubt, but it is one that needs to be subtle. Sadly, it is a quality that this flick very much lacks. As a consequence, the third act is more subdued in tone from what has been experienced previously, but still everything just feels out of sync.
Martin Solomon (David Schwimmer) is a mediocre television writer who is loathed by the sitcom he is attached to. He shows up to the shooting of a passion project he writes, and everything seems to be going well. It’s the only thing he got as he is frustrated with his fiancée, Jessica (Jena Malone), takes a pill too many, and is hyper-stressed. Now, the trouble is, the finance of the flick can only come through if he agrees to alter the gender of the protagonist he’s playing.
He’s most baffled and really off, thinking his movie is now a disaster. In truth, he’s so infuriated by the turn of events that he envisions himself in the role of the woman he’s played the entire time, voiced by Gaby Hoffman, just to drive the point home. After that, while walking on the street, he sees that woman (Angela Sarafyan) whom he fantasized about, which made him get new concepts in his mind.
In a rather quick shift, the commentary moves toward AJ (Dominic Fike) and Karla (Talia Ryder), two more conventional addicts who are present during the robbery. When things go wrong, her car is taken as well as his backpack which has several crucial items. The couple has a very busy night that includes a party, a drug dealer who is potentially dangerous, and several coarse facts, along with the dog that was caught in the theft and Karla virtually adopts it.
There are absolutely nice performances here, especially in the back half. As it happens, Fike and Ryder are on a completely different pitch to everybody else. Ryder especially is quite good as she also was back in never Rarely Sometimes Always. David Schwimmer is good but looks unappealing for reasons that have to do with the script itself. The rest of the lot have themselves a very minor role to the extent that they barely make a mark, the others include Travis Bennett, Sante Bentivoglio, Ben Feldman, Karl Glusman, Seth Green and Fred Melamed.
Jack Begert, the director and one of the writers, truly wanted to create a calling card film with the work. There’s a unique style to this film, almost like a Darren Aronofsky on drugs, especially in the first part of the film (which isn’t a coincidence — Aronofsky produced this film). However, or rather, logistically, the co-writer of the story, Dani Goffstein, incorporates all this style into the script.
Then, the segment where they change pace rather abruptly and a little more than halfway through was incredibly frustrating. I don’t think anyone would be particularly pleased with it. There are two very distinct concepts that Begert had, either one of which could be made into a full length feature, but both would require a wider span. But in blending them and trying to use a flimsy unifying theme, it does disservice to both ideas.
Little Death should have adapted a single style. I think either thread from Begert is a good one, though thin, and would have given a good view of how this teller works. Having them together doesn’t help as it would have made it somewhat interesting which makes little sense now. We shall see what comes out of him ahead, however, I was expecting better from this Sundance film as it falls under the category of average.
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- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Country: United States
- Director: Jack Begert
- Cast: David Schwimmer, Gaby Hoffmann, Talia Ryder
