Tuesday, February 13, 2024

She Dies Tomorrow

 Existential horror is not that big a genre - there's horror that gets existential, of course (my go-to would be Kairo; It Follows would be a more recent, popular option), but few genre movies (and probably few non-genre movies, too) are as purely, unapologetically existential as She Dies Tomorrow.


 A jittery anxiety attack of a movie, it drops us off with Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) who's in what at first seems like a deep, deep depression. We watch her as she boozes, sadly browses the internet, rubs herself against the floor and random plants as if she'd just done ecstasy for the first time, and has a sad, awkward conversation with a friend over the phone.
 It's... honestly, it drags. A lot. Be prepared for a lot of moping about. Things pick up a little when the friend she called earlier, Jane (Jane Adams) pops by, and Amy explains to her that she will die tomorrow. No reason, no cause, just the certainty that it will inevitably happen. Her friend, understandably exasperated, leaves her to her funk... but on her drive home realizes that she too will die tomorrow. And on it goes, as Amy spreads thjs conviction at a party to a bunch of other people. Everyone ends up convinced that they will die tomorrow, and the film spends some time with them and tracks how they decide to spend their last twenty-four hours on this earth, and how they spread the misery around.

 It's a deeply bizarre and very leisurely film. There's no central thesis, just people dealing with this sudden certainty; Genre elements are limited to the premise and some imagery to convey people coming to this understanding. There's some very, very understated humor - some of it drily funny, but it's so gentle it barely registers. Very, very little happens.

 I ended up liking it - it's very original and well made (the sound design especially), and I liked how it conveyed irrational thinking. A good mood piece with some sharp writing; Writer/Director Amy Seimetz completed the film before the pandemic hit in full, which makes it remarkable how much the film captures the surreal feel of those couple years.
 Some parts were a bit of a chore to get through, and it left a remarkably small footprint on my mind - I only watched it yesterday and I'm already unclear on some of its details - but yeah, I enjoyed, slight tedium and all.

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