The Unheard, Spaghetti Junction, Sick of Myself… Discover our reviews from the 2023 Boston Underground Film Festival.
The Boston Underground Film Festival brings unique films and stories to large cinephiles into the city and has been around for over twenty-three years. This year Film Fest Report had the chance to cover the festival celebrated yearly, around unconventional stories, some nightmarish scares, cinematic experiences, and creative individual voices. Here are some of my thoughts and a look at the films I got to experience for the festival.
SICK OF MYSELF (Syk Pike) – This dark comedy and social satire calls for attention. Kristine Kujath Thorp gives an incredible career performance as Signe as she portrays a pathological liar that must be seen in Kristoffer Borgli’s film. The Norwegian film, which premiered at Un Certain Regard (Cannes 2022), uncovers how narcissists can succeed as the film follows a couple who are in a competitive and unhealthy relationship each craving attention. Thomas (Eirik Sæther) makes waves as a contemporary artist and causes Signe to become extremely jealous given the fact the spotlight is not on her. To get noticed Signe goes through extremes to get the sympathy and recognition she wants and craves as she acts extremely obnoxious, however, it’s a fascinating character study. The film is slightly ridiculous and funny at times, but Borgli’s film keeps it relatable and entertaining.
THE UNHEARD – Jeffrey A. Brown’s film is a thrill ride as the first hour of the film is extremely engrossing following Chloe (Lachlan Waston) who has an experimental procedure to regain her hearing. Chloe begins to experience auditory hallucinations that connect to the disappearance of her mother. Praise needs to be given to the sound design as sound is very critical in the film. Even Waston is worthy of recognition of their performance. What is slightly unfortunate is the film’s poor pacing issues and unsuccessful climatic ending.
SPAGHETTI JUNCTION – A coming-of-age drama that is a fantasy, romance, and sci-fi journey that showcases the feature debut of Kirby McClure. McClure’s vision is helped brought to life with the talent of Cate Hughes who stars as August who is a character suffering from trauma after an accident causes her to lose her leg and her mother. Her character also experiences hardship with an alcoholic father, her disobedient sister, and her sister’s sleazy boyfriend. When August meets The Being (Tyler Rainey) she bonds an ultimate chemistry with him and McClure turns Atlanta into a dreamlike fantasy. However, it tends to drag at times and its climax ties together quickly.
THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER – Bomani J. Story’s film takes Frankenstein to a whole new level seeing the film through a modern lens. The story follows protagonist Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) as she is determined to find a cure for death as she believes death is a disease not a natural state of being. The film has a fresh take and twist expressing a lot of emotion as audiences experience a great central performance by Laya DeLeon Hayes along with a strong supporting cast. Story explores the history, race, the value of a person’s life, and most importantly violence. The film follows a tragic story, but is also a scary one.
STAND BY FOR FAILURE: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT NEGATIVLAND – Director, Ryan Worsley gives an inside look at David “The Weatherman” with his childhood friends who formed Negativland, a group recording, reporting, and broadcasting about anything from commercial clips, photographs, images, home videos, cellphone conversations, using sound editing of everyday items/objects such as a flushing toilet. Is what they produce art? Yes, as it is chaotic it is what Negativland is doing today since the 1980’s. This documentary was not exactly for me nor did it capture the attention I was hoping for. Before viewing the film I had no idea what Negativland was all about nor did it get me to care about the subject matter as the film is an overall, bizarre documentary. I believe the intention was to make the documentary bizarre, however, it didn’t win me over. The editing is wildly unique with jump cuts and overlapping media that fits in line perfectly with the film.
BOND – This French short horror film is a feminist piece that follows a woman who tries to break away from a serious toxic relationship with the help of the power of sisterhood. Bond is a bold and powerful short horror film that definitely stands out of everything screened at the festival. I had the opportunity to connect with director Kam Duv to discuss her short film featured at the festival (read the interview here).
