If you're not familiar with this one, though, and you're reading me saying things like "one of 2020's best films," "literal must-have" and calling it a favorite, maybe don't give it a blind-buy just yet. First of all, I would not consider this a horror film, but it's being marketed as such. The Indiewire quote on the front of the box calls this a "gripping apocalyptic thriller," and while I know what they mean, I don't think I could come up with more misleading marketing copy without overtly lying. This film never once, for a split second even attempts to be thrilling. If there's anything remotely scary about it, it's a sense of morose existential dread. The closest film I can come up with to it, I guess, would be Lars von Trier's Melancholia? Except even that film had its characters facing the ostensible threat of an on-coming planetary collision. No such danger exists here. And that's not a criticism, at least anymore than saying Schindler's List doesn't have any big belly laughs in it - it's just not that kind of movie. I've heard a lot of frustrated comments from people expecting the next Babadook or Midsommar (ugh, thank you for not being another Midsommar), in entirely the wrong disposition to respond to a darkly witty drama whose strengths lie in subtle, sympathetic observations of human behavior.
I'm going to give you the quite concise, official description of She Dies Tomorrow right from the back of the box, because I watched this with someone who wound up feeling frustrated because they assumed this film was leading up to some kind of big reveal. This is definitely a "journey not the destination" story, and I think being on the same page as the storytellers (because I'd read a bit about the film before diving in) really freed me up to engage with it right from the start. So here it is:
"After waking up convinced that she is going to die tomorrow, Amy’s carefully mended life begins to unravel. As her delusions of certain death become contagious to those around her, Amy and her friends’ lives spiral out of control in a tantalizing descent into madness."See, because this film is being presented as a sort of elevated horror film, you can get stuck watching this film thinking all the dialogue and character work is some sort of slow burn building up to a big shock. Like, at the end, aliens will be revealed. Or even an ominous presence left vague, like It Comes At Night or (lol) Bird Box. But the whole point this time is that there's nothing out there; this film's just about what people think is going to happen. And that's not a spoiler. The film tries to tell us that early and repeatedly. It's right there in the two-sentence pitch that's also on the official film's webpage and everywhere else they can sow it. They did their bit to let us know.
Writer/ director Amy Seimetz apparently agreed to star in the recent Pet Sematary remake to finance this film. Who would've guessed in 2019 that something good would've come of that? But here we are! Kate Lyn Sheil, of Kate Plays Christine and Seimetz's excellent first film, Sun Don't Shine stars alongside the always wonderful Jane Adams (Happiness, Twin Peaks) as two friends who go on distinctly individual journeys during what they believe to be their last day on Earth. This film swings easily from cutting to sympathetic and back as the film alternatively watches maudlin Kate self-indulgently replay the same Mozart record over and over and Jane overrun her sister-in-law's birthday party with her disengaged preoccupations to them finding joy and peace in the perfect ways to spend their final hours. And we're treated to more and more perspectives and possibilities as everyone they come into contact with also become perfectly convinced that they will die tomorrow. Fortunately, it's both too clever and sweet to become depressing, helped immeasurably by the cast, which also includes Josh Lucas, Jorge/ Jump Tomorrow's Tunde Adebimpe (boy, there's someone I haven't thought about in years! But apparently he was in the last Spider-Man flick), horror director Adam Wingard and a refreshingly non-violent Michelle Rodriguez.
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2020 Neon DVD-R. |
The audio is unavoidably lossy, but at least it's a nice, clear 5.1 mix, and they did include optional English HoH subtitles. And they even threw in the trailer, which MOD DVD-R's don't typically bother with.
So it's something. Something's better than nothing. But it's not enough to keep us from requesting this title from Criterion, now is it?
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