Part of Teenage Wasteland
When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara (Katherine Langford) and Dylan (Charlie Plummer) struggle to make sense of the sudden violent deaths of their classmates. In this world where each moment may be their last, an unexpected romance blossoms between the two — and they discover that when tomorrow is no longer promised, they can finally start living for today.
Darkly funny and emotionally affecting in turns, this genre gem is destined to become a new cult classic. Because this criminally under-screened, explosive tale of young love came out in the midst of the pandemic, we’re dying to see it with an audience.
“Doesn’t move or feel quite like anything you’ve seen. There’s a lot going on here direction-wise, from blatant shout-outs to earlier classics of youth drama and/or black comedy…to music video interludes and fourth-wall-breaking touches…. Duffield’s elegant camera movements and editing patterns evoke Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson in fast-paced montage mode. The camera never sits still when it can track, swish-pan, lunge, or dive.” —Matt Zoller Seitz, rogerebert.com (Oct 2, 2020) “This debut feature from writer-director Brian Duffield…has plenty of gallows humour to leaven the gore and tragedy, and plenty of subtexts swimming under the surface like glittering, metaphorical koi…. The cast are excellent, the technical polish is high-grade and the obligatory neo-emo soundtrack appropriately gloomy-sweet.” —Leslie Felperin, Guardian (Oct 7, 2020)
