Moral dilemma: one couple hosts another for a pleasant, mostly-vegan dinner party, and a little light snooping on the part of the guests turns up a suicide note.
What to do, what to do? Obviously the visitors, Penn (Lindsay Hicks) and Jasmine (Brittani Nichols), themselves a newish couple, are concerned for their friends, who up until now have been role models for a happy relationship. But you can’t be blunt about a note you just stumbled upon, can you?
The brilliance of this film is that it makes you question what you would do, and it challenges our notions of propriety.
The quality’s a little wonky. It doesn’t quite have the production values you might hope for, and during the dinner scene the camera jitters around so much I had to look away to settle my stomach. Luckily, the conversation is jaunty and captivating enough to conquer some of the flaws. It flows authentically, and you’ll feel like they should have set a 5th place setting for you, the guest who definitely would have went for some wine.
The trick is that there’s a subtext that we’re aware of but not everyone at the table is. Penn
and Jasmine know a dark secret and are steering things to play sleuth. Billie (Jasika Nicole) and Jordan (Brianna Baker) know that something’s up but the note is the furthest thing from their minds. They’re just trying to navigate this incredibly uncomfortable encounter – and we’ve got front row seats!
So it’s noticeably an indie, but it’s also smartly written and well-acted and I’m very glad I gave it a chance because it’s quite endearing, and an interesting little slice of life.
This review first appeared on Cinema Axis as part of the Inside Out film festival coverage, a festival dedicated to showing LGBT movies.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Fascinating and thought-provoking, I would like to see this one! Thank you for a good review which intrigues but doesnt reveal. Have a great Memorial Day weekend! To the whole gang: relax!
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Thanks, Robin! It’s a fine line but I think some of the “fun” of this movie is trying to piece things together as you go along.
Our long weekend was last weekend (we’re in Canada) but I hope you have a good one, and we’ll certainly be in favour of a happy regular-weekend on our end. 😉
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I’ll look out for this, an interesting premise.
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Yes it is, and I really felt that even if the catalyst is a little out of the ordinary, the characters’ responses were really real and honest.
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Glad to hear it. I’ve seen too many indies that try to be quirky only to fall flat. Glad this one went a different direction.
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There’s definitely an over-emphasis on quirk. I was randomly selected to screen this movie for the festival and ended up being really glad it was one of mine!
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Sounds like an interesting one 🙂 I do love quirk (then again I am a huge fan of The Coen Brothers) 🙂 I am quite aware that the Coen Brothers have no involvement with this film of course 🙂 I have not seen this one yet of course, but it does look interesting. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Perhaps politicians should take a page from this playbook and make commercials that leave you questioning moral issues in ways that are hard to answer — not just emotional. Just a thought I had when I read your review. Sounds interesting.
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That’s an interesting thought. I’d like to see it in action!
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This is an excellent movie. As a lesbian, I felt that several of the characters remind me of gals I know – lesbian Archetypes, if you will.
Very well done.
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