A young woman bumps into her childhood best friend at a store and gets promptly invited to join for her bachelorette party. When the party extends into a weekend at a cabin, she’s soon forced to spend time with her childhood bully and a few less-than-welcoming others.
Written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kanes Senes, this Australian film straddles the line of comedy, drama, horror, and thriller, switching genres back and forth and sometimes going for all of them at once. The film starts off with a cringy reunion for our lead who has already been established as an influencer. When others are added to mix, things go weird and the level of anxiety the lead has to deal with mounts with every minute with the group of people who aren’t her friend. The way this film plays with themes of popularity, bullying, friendship, and growing up is what makes it a strong entry in the influencers-in-peril subgenre. Here, the lead is an influencer which will lead some viewers to assume she’s annoying and a bit much, but there is more to her and soon, a new side of her is shown. This all leads to a film that builds its tension overtime, using small things like a meeting in a pharmacy or a comment here and there about someone’s past in a way that makes it all feel realistic.
The cast of this story is led by Aisha Dee as Cecilia, aka Sissy, who puts in a performance that keeps all eyes on her. She’s fantastic here, giving a strong performance with just the right nuance and the right level of over-the-top at times. She understands the material and it shows. She is the star her, the influencer, the girl at the center of everything, and she know exactly how to grab the attention every single time she’s on screen. Her performance is the one that will be remembered from the bunch here. Playing her former bestie is writer/director Hannah Barlow who gives a good performance here, balancing things between Cecilia and the rest of the group. She gets a few deeper scenes where she can really shine and do so effortlessly. The rest of the main group here is composed of Emily De Margheriti as bully Alex, Lucy Barrett as Fran, Yerin Ha as Tracey, and Daniel Monks as Jamie. All of them come off different levels of despicable, which really is what their characters call for.
The film’s look is very colorful, almost cheerful, with a few scenes that are perfect for social media, something that fits rather well here. The cinematography by Steve Arnold works fantastically well here, giving the film all the angles it needs, not being afraid to go there on some of the more violent elements, and giving the viewer a clear view of everything. This film takes its story and its elements and puts them clearly in front of the camera, never shying away from the harder elements. There is an honesty in how this comes off and it works fantastically well here.
Sissy is a strong bullies and victims film, one all about how the past can affect the present, about those willing to rise above it all, and how it can all go severely wrong. This one is a must-see once it becomes more widely available after its festival run.
Fantasia International Film Festival 2022 runs from July 14th to August 3rd, 2022