There is an exhaustion to this film, watching someone chase dreams unfulfilled and ephemeral fantasies. Of witnessing someone’s vibrance and confidence slowly wither under the relentless assault of disappointment and the Sisyphean grind. The movie carries a languid surrealism, drifting between unsettling notions with a visual dichotomy used to illustrate the harshness of daily toil, contrasted to vibrant fluorescent dreams. But dreams often transition into nightmare, and this film presents genuinely disturbing manifestations, with an aura of ambiguous threat and menace as dream intrudes upon reality.
Many will find this a meandering slog, slow burning and on occasion baffling. The horror elements rely mostly on some disquieting visuals and uncertainty on how much is real and how much is psychological, and whether the difference matters. Chloe Levine gives a stellar performance here, haunted and fraying more, every day that passes. The character is breaking down, and we witness this in real-time. She carries the film with a ferocious grace, straddling the liminal space between dream and reality. A problem is pacing, slow to the point of turgid, which aids in creating a surreal dreamlike experience, but might infuriate. Fractured flashbacks convey thematic beats and necessary exposition.
Critiques aside, as a debut film, this is remarkably well made. Thematically rich, well acted, with a quality script lurking beneath lurid fluorescents and disquieting visuals. It is assured and bold, unafraid to be opaque or cryptic, but will certainly dissatisfy those seeking more horrific experiences or a concrete resolution. The ending is largely ambiguous, presenting a sense of fulfillment, but enough clues and questions to wonder whether it is all fantasy and ephemera, and if we witness someone who has traded reality to persist in delusion