Our Sydney Underground Film Festival 2024 Marathon (+ Reviews!)
Tickets and passes to Sydney Underground Film Festival 2024 are on sale now! Get in quick – the festival is happening on the 12th-15th of September at Dendy Cinemas Newtown.
There’s no better thing than watching something for the first time in a cinema. Bonus points if you get to share the experience with a friend who is just as excited. Extra bonus points if you are at a film festival enjoying the sparkly new cinematic gems that the program has to offer.
If film school has taught us anything, it's that independent filmmakers – people with stories to tell and who will go to any length to realise them – deserve our complete respect and support. In a highly competitive industry, originality is a priceless resource and unfortunately, it takes a lot of time, money and perseverance to bring a passion project to life.
That’s why Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF) is remarkable beyond being an Australian cultural institution – it’s a hub of up-and-coming talent worthy of our attention. It’s a designated space to celebrate experimental filmmaking that you may not come across in the mainstream. The 2024 festival, running from the 12th to the 15th of September, will call our beloved Dendy Newtown its home, and we can’t think of a better cinema to soak in this year’s fantastic program.
We were granted special early access screeners to review ahead of the festival. So, we experienced these films not in the cinema, but in the next best possible way: back-to-back, at home on the couch, armed with a bag of jelly cups, watching until the early hours of the morning.
Here’s how it went:
Sacramento dir. Michael Angarano
It’s hard not to love Michael Cera. When we saw that his film, Sacramento, was debuting at SUFF fresh from Tribeca, it became number one on our watchlist. Thankfully, we were not disappointed, as Sacramento is the textbook definition of charming. It’s short, sweet, and sympathetic, gracefully moving between moments of expertly crafted comedy and genuinely touching representations of complex friendships, positive masculinity, mental health, and parenthood.
The film’s director, producer, writer, and star Michael Angarano has been on a bit of a hot streak lately, reminding audiences who watched him back in Sky High that he’s still got it, especially with his roles in bigger projects like Oppenheimer. Sacramento is a testament to his talents, both in front of and behind the camera.
The film navigates the strained relationship between two equally anxious men on a road trip to Sacramento: Ricky (Angarano), an unreliable, untethered man running away from the recent loss of his father, and Glenn (Cera), a control freak awaiting fatherhood, who can’t wait to get away from him. The chemistry between these two is phenomenal, making the offbeat buddy comedy dynamic feel natural whilst making you care deeply about the friendship beneath it. Sacramento features an impressive ensemble cast, including Maya Erskine (PEN15) and Kristen Stewart, who deliver standout performances in their supporting roles. Perhaps the greatest joy of watching this movie was Stewart’s deadpan portrayal of the world’s most nonchalant character.
There’s so much to love about this film: It’s brilliantly written; the shots are sun-filled and gorgeously composed; the locational backdrop of lakeside forests, stretching highways and leafy suburbia inspires jealousy at the beautiful America it presents; the jazz and blues-filled score is energised and fun… This all combines seamlessly to create an incredibly original yet cohesive experience.
And as always, Michael Cera has a very compelling presence on screen. But what is unique about his role in Sacramento is the level of edge that we don’t usually get to see in the goofy-but-likable-guy typecast he’s previously fallen into. It’s incredibly refreshing to see Cera tackle a character with so much pent-up anger and complex emotion.
Ultimately, Sacramento is a film we’d happily recommend to anyone. It’s the type of story that has a lot to offer to audiences regardless of their typical taste in movies and will likely have you laughing while simultaneously fighting back tears.
Overall rating: 5/5
Saint Clare dir. Mitzi Peirone
As friends who first bonded over our shared obsession with experimental horror movies, we knew that Mitzi Peirone’s Saint Clare was a must-watch from this year’s program. With ex-Nickelodeon darling turned frequent pop culture sensation Bella Thorne as the protagonist – a retribution-hungry, man-killing vigilante teenager with a dark past – Saint Clare presented itself as an irresistible film bound to pack a punch.
The horror/thriller is an adaptation of Don Roff’s 2021 novel Clare at 16 and follows Clare Bleeker (Thorne), an orphaned Catholic college student living with her grandmother in small-town America. Driven by a fierce moral compass, Clare takes it upon herself to protect the women around her by enacting violence on dangerous men before they can inflict it.
The film juggles a lot plot-wise: a murder investigation that points to Clare as the chief suspect; an imaginary, divorced postal worker who acts as Clare’s conscious (and who inexplicably disappears in the third act); a sinister mystery involving disappearing women; and an amateur theatre production. It’s ambitious for a 92-minute run time, and the film doesn’t quite pull it off. It’s chaotic and some plotlines feel disconnected and unnecessary – as often happens when trying to carry the expansive detail of a novel over to the screen format. Peirone also seems to want us to take the film seriously but also treat it as a self-aware comedy, muddying its tone into a strange combination of the two and making the performances feel stilted.
The cinematography, however, was a highlight. With an experimental use of colour and ever-dynamic camera movements and framing – it’s clear that the filmmakers wanted Saint Clare’s visuals to make an impact, and they succeeded. If you’re a fan of cult classics Euphoria and Yellowjackets, you’ll enjoy Saint Clare’s heightened moody look and feel.
Part of the fun of SUFF is getting to watch a movie you know next to nothing about and letting it take you on a ride. In that sense, Saint Clare most certainly does not disappoint – the writing may be convoluted, but the main mystery keeps you guessing on what’s going to happen next and has some genuinely thrilling moments. While the film certainly is not without its flaws; it’s still a damn good time.
Overall rating: 2/5
Mother Father Sister Brother Frank dir. Caden Douglas
What stands out about this film is how simple it is – Douglas takes a small cast of seemingly normal if not slightly wacky characters (each harbouring a secret), confines them to the single location of the Jennings family home, and introduces a straightforward but significant problem: they need to murder Uncle Frank and get away with it. The film takes these basic ingredients and makes something explosively funny.
Pacing-wise, the story takes a little while to pick up. But once it does, it’s a comedy of errors in full swing and the 85-minute runtime speeds by with ease. The plot is full of absurdity as problems continually spring up for the Jennings family and they must improvise ridiculous solutions, though these shenanigans build so organically that we fully jump aboard. The tension remains at a boiling point from the moment Frank’s body hits the floor (and the Banana Breeze pie hits his face). The performances escalate in weirdness too, giving the antics the energy needed to sustain themselves. It never feels tired, and that in itself is a great achievement. Despite the constant chaos, the writing is considered so that even minor characters serve an important purpose and no loose ends are left by the time the credits roll.
The production design is also worth praising. It builds a robust story world, with the Jennings’ home at its centre. With its paisley wallpapers, floral upholstery and a gallery wall of family photos on the wall, the house is what ties this dysfunctional family together. In the same vein, when Frank crashes through the house in his dying moments, breaking furniture and smearing blood everywhere, the curtain of normalcy drops at the Jennings’ feet. The snowy, tightly knit neighbourhood is established in only a few exterior shots and interactions from concerned neighbours, but is a threatening presence the characters must hide from. Despite the gore, Mother Father Sister Brother Frank has such a cozy atmosphere that it’s hard to believe that it isn't a Christmas movie.
It’s a film about murder, yes, but really it’s about accepting your family for all their flaws. And just like each of its characters, it’s quirky and weird but lovable all the same.
Overall rating: 4/5
Vulcanizadora dir. Joel Potrykus
Attendees of SUFF 2023 may remember Mark H. Rappaport’s feature Hippo, a uniquely dry comedy that was one of our favourite films that year. If you’re looking to scratch that awkward, dark comedy itch once more, look no further than Potrykus’ latest feature, Vulcanizadora. It’s just about as dark as a black comedy comes, featuring two mismatched best friends in a lighthearted buddy comedy until a horrifying event changes everything. The film is as good as its poster, and when your poster looks that good, that’s a big compliment.
The film follows best friends Derek and Martin, with Potrykus and long-time collaborator Joshua Burge reprising their roles from their 2014 SXSW-darling Buzzard. Martin wants nothing more than for the two of them to reach their destination and carry out their mysterious, unspoken pact. But Derek is clearly hesitant and instead drags him along on an unwanted camping trip. This contrast in motives creates a great push-and-pull throughout the film up until the climax – which truly must be seen to be believed.
It’s best to go into this film knowing as little as possible – just be prepared to be swept off your feet. Vulcanizadora balances comedy and horror so incredibly well, with Potrykus and Burge flexing their creative strengths that are the result of over a decade of creative collaboration. Their ability to go from being hilarious one moment to emotionally devastating the next, as if at the flip of a switch, is truly remarkable. They bring the emotional grounding to this edgy buddy comedy gone wrong – and it’s all the better for it.
However, the most notable aspect of this film was the cinematography. With gorgeous, 16mm shots that linger for minutes at a time, the camera more often than not lets the audience decide what they want to look at and what they will find funny. It’s a risky move for a tonally precise film like this, but they pull it off masterfully. The washed-out, dreamlike visuals only add to the nightmarish events of the camping trip and all that comes after, and will definitely leave a lasting impression on audiences.
At 85 minutes, it’s a lean, mean, sometimes-funny-sometimes-terrifying machine, and it pretty much encapsulates all the best parts of SUFF: Going to the theatre and seeing something off-kilter that you perhaps wouldn’t usually watch, trying something new. If two friends on a camping trip on the way to carry out a horrifying pact sounds interesting to you, we’d say look no further.
Overall rating: 4.5/5