We’re residing in an period of pop star horror, whether or not analyzing their downward spiral in Smile 2 or utilizing their live shows as an elaborate entice for a serial killer in Lure. Now, filmmaker Emma Higgins is including her voice to the refrain along with her characteristic movie debut Sweetness, which had its world premiere on the 2025 SXSW Movie & TV Competition. With Sweetness, Higgins creates an Annie Wilkes for the trendy period in a horrifying imaginative and prescient of parasocial relationships and the harmful (and lethal) methods they will finish.
Rylee Hill (Kate Hallett) is a 16-year-old woman going by it. She’s misplaced her mother and her dad Ron (Justin Chatwin) is a cop who works an excessive amount of. Plus, he has a brand new girlfriend (Amanda Brugel) that Rylee can’t stand. Rylee’s solely respites are her finest good friend Sidney (Aya Furukawa) and the music of Floorplan, a pop-alternative band led by the devilishly good-looking Payton Adler (Herman Tømmeraas).
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After attending a Floorplan live performance, Rylee has an opportunity encounter with Payton after he by chance hits her along with his automobile whereas texting his vendor. As an apology, he presents to drive Rylee residence—a literal dream come true, like one thing out of a bit of fan fiction. However because the drive continues, Rylee realizes one thing’s mistaken with Payton and he’s too excessive to perform. After a number of trash can victims and a minor scene in the course of a suburban road, Rylee will get Payton into her home to let him sleep it off.
However from there, issues solely worsen. Rylee decides that she’s the one who may also help Payton get sober whereas handcuffed to her mattress beneath what’s basically a shrine to the singer. And but, her good intentions spiral uncontrolled as Rylee refuses to loosen her grip on her prisoner. She’s greater than a woman with a crush—she’s a woman with a harmful obsession. Higgins takes the viewers on a surprising and violent journey by one woman’s determined makes an attempt to really feel some kind of love.
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Whereas Rylee is clearly humanity taken to the intense, Higgins crafts a personality not too far off from actuality. As a younger teen with an iPod filled with pop-punk music and a love of creating collages of cute boys, I lived the lifetime of a fan woman. I do know what it’s prefer to discover a band that appears to know how you are feeling as you smudge on extra black eyeliner and add one other few jelly bracelets to the already large stack. And Rylee speaks to each the fact of that have and the harmful extremity that followers can take, particularly in an overwhelmingly digital world. Think about if Annie Wilkes had entry to Fb teams and Reddit. That’s Rylee.
Plus, Hallett’s efficiency is completely tragic, embuing Rylee with empathy even within the face of her more and more irrational choices. You cheer for her with every horrendous mistake and simply need her to come back out on high. She’s an absolute mess and you continue to wish to give her a hug. What I’m saying is: Sweetness is for the women.
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Due to a background in music, notably filming and creating music movies for artists like Mom Mom and Teagan & Sara, Higgins makes use of her intimate familiarity with the business to craft Payton Adler right into a believably trashy star. She even labored with composers Blitz//Berlin to write down and organize these unique songs, which Tømmeraas really sung himself. Whereas it is probably not a higher-budget style movie like Smile 2 or Lure, Higgins remains to be in a position to craft a equally lived-in world with the hassle and care put into crafting and shaping the movie’s pop star.
The movie’s solely stumbling block is a tempo so quick that you simply don’t actually get to know its central characters, notably Rylee. For a lot of the movie, we all know that she’s grieving her mother is a little bit of an outcast. However we don’t get a lot else till later within the movie, which feels a bit rushed. Rylee is just not shallow essentially, however I wished extra about what was happening within the teen’s head, somewhat than shifting out to characters like Steven Ogg’s John, Payton’s bodyguard. Whereas it’s at all times a pleasure to see Ogg on display screen, his character looks like an afterthought. Sadly, if you happen to eliminated him altogether, it will barely influence the story, which is a disgrace for an actor like Ogg! However the movie would have benefited from a tighter concentrate on Rylee and what unfolds in her impeccably designed bed room.
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Talking of that bed room, the manufacturing design, set ornament, and make-up (led by Electa Porado, Mark Kowalsky, and Vanessa Tyra Smith, respectively) additional elevate the movie’s world-building. From Payton’s tattoos (shout out to that tramp stamp) to Rylee’s wide-legged pants and excellent eyeliner, there’s unbelievable consideration to element to make Sweetness all of the extra emotionally impactful. Plus, a few of the set design–as seen in a blue-carpeted toilet—leans into the weird undertones that run all through the movie.
Watching Sweetness is a blast to the emo woman previous. Higgins nails the obsessed fan with ability, crafting a personality paying homage to Annie Wilkes, however a bit extra empathetic in her actions. It is a worthy addition to the pop star horror development, particularly with its concentrate on the attitude of the violent fan and her well-intentioned however deeply misguided makes an attempt to show her teenage pet canine love. Rylee is a brand new horror icon and I wouldn’t thoughts seeing what she will get as much as subsequent.
Abstract
It is a worthy addition to the pop star horror development, particularly with its concentrate on the attitude of the violent fan and her well-intentioned however deeply misguided makes an attempt to show her teenage pet canine love. Rylee is a brand new horror icon and I wouldn’t thoughts seeing what she will get as much as subsequent.
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