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Sweetheart, 2019
Jenn (Kiersey Clemons) washes up on a deserted island after the boat she is on sinks in a storm. But while she is lucky to have survived, the sinking, she soon becomes curious about mutilated fish that wash up on the beach, as well as signs that others were living on the same island but did not survive. Soon Jenn comes to realize there's something in the water.
I enjoyed this film, whose approach to some typical horror tropes was refreshing.
I can tell you the exact moment that this movie won me over, and that's a sequence where Jenn collects several fish and shellfish that have washed up on the shore after a storm. Using a sharp rock, she first totally botches an attempt to clean and butcher a fish. Despairing, she then pulls out a clam or oyster and tries, in vain, the crack it open by smashing it against a rock. To me, it just so encapsulated that feeling when you're in over your head, trying things you sort of half-remember, and failing spectacularly.
I also liked the way that the film really owned its monster. It plays a bit coy with the creature at first. And I loved a shot where it is suddenly illuminated in profile from behind by a flare Jenn fires. But then the movie just has it on screen a lot and I wasn't mad about it.
Finally, there's a sequence in the last act where two other characters from the same sinking manage to make it to the island. One of them is her boyfriend Lucas (Emory Cohen) and the other is a friend named Mia (Hannah Lawrence). I was really taken by the dialogue in this part of the film. It is how people who know each other would actually speak to one another: referencing people and events we are not familiar with, but in a way that we get enough information to have the gist of their relationships. We learn, in part by her own admission, that Jenn is not trusted by her friends. And we don't get enough background to know if that's because she is in the habit of lying, or if she just has an unhealthy relationship with her friends. The dynamics in this last act are allowed to be messy and morally ambiguous. It's clear that something happened in the raft between Mia, Lucas, and a third friend. But what? There are several possibilities, but no final resolution.
I didn't have too many complaints with this one. I thought that Clemons was a really engaging protagonist. There is some typical horror stuff, things like the creature being a hyper-efficient predator . . . unless it is attacking Jenn and feels the need to just sort of carry her around, thus giving her a chance to fight back or escape. There's a bit of inconsistency with the creature's speed and strength. I also thought that the final showdown borrowed a bit liberally from the climax of Predators. While I praised the film for not indulging in an exposition dump, in the end I did wish that I'd known a bit more about Jenn, how she ended up on that boat with several people she didn't know, and what had happened between her and Lucas to cause so much friction.
Ultimately, a solid creature/survival flick elevated by interesting choices in the writing.
Sweetheart, 2019
Jenn (Kiersey Clemons) washes up on a deserted island after the boat she is on sinks in a storm. But while she is lucky to have survived, the sinking, she soon becomes curious about mutilated fish that wash up on the beach, as well as signs that others were living on the same island but did not survive. Soon Jenn comes to realize there's something in the water.
I enjoyed this film, whose approach to some typical horror tropes was refreshing.
I can tell you the exact moment that this movie won me over, and that's a sequence where Jenn collects several fish and shellfish that have washed up on the shore after a storm. Using a sharp rock, she first totally botches an attempt to clean and butcher a fish. Despairing, she then pulls out a clam or oyster and tries, in vain, the crack it open by smashing it against a rock. To me, it just so encapsulated that feeling when you're in over your head, trying things you sort of half-remember, and failing spectacularly.
I also liked the way that the film really owned its monster. It plays a bit coy with the creature at first. And I loved a shot where it is suddenly illuminated in profile from behind by a flare Jenn fires. But then the movie just has it on screen a lot and I wasn't mad about it.
Finally, there's a sequence in the last act where two other characters from the same sinking manage to make it to the island. One of them is her boyfriend Lucas (Emory Cohen) and the other is a friend named Mia (Hannah Lawrence). I was really taken by the dialogue in this part of the film. It is how people who know each other would actually speak to one another: referencing people and events we are not familiar with, but in a way that we get enough information to have the gist of their relationships. We learn, in part by her own admission, that Jenn is not trusted by her friends. And we don't get enough background to know if that's because she is in the habit of lying, or if she just has an unhealthy relationship with her friends. The dynamics in this last act are allowed to be messy and morally ambiguous. It's clear that something happened in the raft between Mia, Lucas, and a third friend. But what? There are several possibilities, but no final resolution.
I didn't have too many complaints with this one. I thought that Clemons was a really engaging protagonist. There is some typical horror stuff, things like the creature being a hyper-efficient predator . . . unless it is attacking Jenn and feels the need to just sort of carry her around, thus giving her a chance to fight back or escape. There's a bit of inconsistency with the creature's speed and strength. I also thought that the final showdown borrowed a bit liberally from the climax of Predators. While I praised the film for not indulging in an exposition dump, in the end I did wish that I'd known a bit more about Jenn, how she ended up on that boat with several people she didn't know, and what had happened between her and Lucas to cause so much friction.
Ultimately, a solid creature/survival flick elevated by interesting choices in the writing.