‘Little Death’: Sundance Review

Dir. Jack Begert. US. 2024. 110min

Little Dying, the function directorial debut of rising music video director Jack Begert (well-known for his work on Olivia Rodrigo’s ’get him again!’), is admittedly two movies in a single. The primary is a Hollywood satire starring Pals star David Schwimmer as a sad-sack TV screenwriter and wannabe filmmaker. The second is a verité story about two down-and-out college-age youngsters who’re attempting to outlive a tough evening on the streets of L.A.

A peculiar two-headed beast 

Created to stylistically distinction with one another in each potential means (digital vs. celluloid; sardonic vs. delicate; white and middle-aged vs. various and on the cusp of maturity), Begert has created a peculiar two-headed beast that’s destined to fall quick with audiences by its very personal design. It’s onerous to see the identical individuals who could also be tickled by the darkish humour of the primary half being entranced by the makes an attempt at genuineness within the second. You may applaud Begert and his high-profile supporters—producer Darren Aronofsky and government producer Ari Handenl – for trying this daring structural experiment that in the end offers with the hazards of drug habit, however it could not work within the business market past a mere curiosity.

Little Dying begins very very like some sardonic Charlie Kaufman-esque meta narrative about Martin (Schwimmer), a annoyed middle-aged TV author. Stuffed with “pitiful self-loathing,” as his unloving girlfriend (Jena Malone) factors out, the closely medicated Martin is about to get his large break. After working for 11 seasons on an NBC sitcom referred to as ’The Change’, a couple of man and girl who swap locations, Martin is lastly about to direct his first function, a private impartial movie based mostly on his personal childhood. There’s just one drawback: the principle financier desires him to vary the principle character from male to feminine. (As one of many stereotyped film executives tells him, “Nobody desires to observe one other white man’s issues.”)

It’s right here that the primary of the movie’s switches happen; the subsequent time we see Martin, he’s performed by feminine actress Gaby Hoffman. The actress does an awesome job of capturing the character’s (and Schwimmer’s) gloomy and angst-written mannerisms, however the gag is simply a momentary gimmick in a piece of the movie that’s deliberately stuffed with flashy touches of artifice, surrealism, dream sequences, bursts of animation (a few of it very efficient), and particular results—all to evoke Martin’s anxiety-ridden and pharmaceutically altered thoughts.

When Martin meets a random girl who he’s actually seeing in his goals, Schwimmer returns, solely to make the character additional determined and unlikeable. When Martin’s story ends, some viewers would possibly miss the wild filmmaking, however they’re unlikely to to overlook the character.

We then meet Kate (Talia Ryder) and AJ (musician Dominic Fike), a few wayward younger adults who discover themselves in the course of a heist gone unsuitable. As an alternative of getting away, additionally they develop into victims and get thrown out on the road. They go on a meandering journey to retrieve their stolen automotive and items, ending up at first a celebration, then a drug vendor’s house and at last 4am brunch at an L.A. deli.

Shot on movie, with a softer colour palette and a wholly totally different realist tone, the second a part of the movie feels paying homage to Larry Clark and Sofia Coppola. (In press notes, the director mentions Robert Altman as an affect, however Begert’s aesthetic feels extra modern).

Whereas this part aspires to be way more real than the primary, with Kate and AJ portrayed as actual younger individuals scuffling with habit, it’s largely the type that has modified—one that doesn’t essentially go any deeper. In the end, Begert is involved in exploring the character of various views. However whereas his movie could dabble in various factors of view, it by no means manages to delve into the subjectivities of the characters it’s attempting to seize – even those it clearly cares for.