DARLA IN SPACE
RELEASED: October 24th, 2024
RUN TIME: 1:34
GENRE: COMEDY, SCI-FI
SYNOPSIS: Darla runs a business called Kitty Kasket, LLC which makes custom caskets for cats. Darla is stunned to learn that she owes $349,00.22 in taxes. Darla meets a sentient orgasm-granting kombucha scoby named Mother. Mother agrees to help out Darla with her debt, all Mother asks in return is for Darla to help her get to space.
Written & Directed by Susie Moon and Eric Laplante
Starring: Alex E Harris, Rasheda Crockett, Constance Shulman, and Thomas Jay Ryan
Avant-garde, experimental movies are not an unusual fascination for this filmgoer, nor is looking deeper into the movie than maybe even the filmmakers intended. However, I have to say there is a subtle warm blanket, weird acceptance that Darla In Space transports you too, and I for one loved going there.
I like that within its messiness and its aww shucks kind of malaise, there's a comforting repose stretching that, in lesser hands, probably wouldn't have worked. However, Susie Moon and Eric Laplante bring to this a keen understanding that less is more, and the power of this movie lies in the eyes of its star.
In a "dual" performance for the ages, Alex Harris has full command of the subtlety of the everyday Darla and then shows her prowess when she switches with sheer fearlessness that only a blonde wig and some make-up changes on the surface. That's the beauty of this whole scope though, as Alex really shifts her mindset both in craft and execution in playing each aspect of the 2 characters here. Her movements are different, her cadence is different, and the fun aspects come when she has moments of weakness in which the 2 characters merge or overlap. Her timing is impeccable and her control is even more perfect.
Couple that with an impressive array of nicely timed snarks and sarcastic quips, from a very brash dialogue, that play both as follie and subtext for a much deeper dive into what is just an outlandish, ridiculous, subversive narrative.
I also love the turns of Constance Shulman who plays Leona (Darla's Mom) and Thomas Jay Ryan who plays Mr. Pickens. Both are uniquely all-in on their absurd characters and they provide a nice embellishment to the ridiculousness.
While a movie like this leans heavily on its cast selling not just in the dialogue but in expressions and movements or stillness (and that is ultimately what works the most here and separates it from a foddered, teetering mess to avant-garde, cult classic status), this movie is not without its auteur leanings and steered compositions from its filmmakers. First and foremost, the wide shots that enhance the perspective of what the customers of Mother and Darla experience to the fun artistic shots like one of my favorites from the entire slate I saw at Slamdance (where I first saw this movie) of Darla opening Mother's storage crate. One where are looking down at her approach; it's so good. I also love the lean on the "blow-out sunlight" aspect of the natural lighting that gives a layer to the composition. Where it drives both the playful nature and this seriously weird contextual fog that hangs with a muted landscape.
These establishing setups provide a nice getaway into what is essentially an existential and internal stimulus moment for most of the characters involved. Something that would be very hard to provide on camera, but utilizing those shots helps us feel the POV, and the fact they are very well framed and lit for that purpose gives us the subtext we deserve.
I also love the 2nd act narrative and how it takes a nice turn into what is just a crazy 3rd act. A 3rd act that does a nice nod to the return of the foolhardy sanity of the 1st. I love full-circle storytelling.
There is no way this should be as engaging and entertaining as it is, given the full on premise and the sheer audacity of not just the plot but its cast of characters and what they are actually doing and believing.
Yet somehow this film goes beyond just working and being quirky and weird. It offers a really nice comfort and commentary on society that I think is swept under the rug because it's not pretty or explained to death enough on screen. However, don't mistake this for just being avant-garde for avant-garde sake. It has character, sure, but it also has incredible craft behind it. It reminds me a lot of Punch Drunk Love in that respect, just not as serious.
This is a great movie if you just want to escape into utter weirdness and be surprised by what that really means.
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