A crypto-addict loser’s bad decisions pile upon one another, leading to his life falling apart in the anxiety comedy $POSITIONS, written and directed by Brandon Daley, and presented through the Fantasia International Film Festival.
$POSITIONS (capitalized as to match the stylisations of Cryptocurrency) is a new entry in the canon of what’s been called “anxiety comedies.” Dark stories of people making bad decisions again and again, where, despite the dark laughs the audience has, we watch as they inch closer to everything falling apart around them. We sit on the edge as it gets worse and worse until it reaches a boiling point of anxiety. Think the Safdie Brothers’ duology Good Time and Uncut Gems, the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, Shiva Baby, or Krisha. For those who thrive on second-hand embarrassment, these sorts of films
$POSITIONS follows Mike Alvarado, played by a wonderfully manic Michael Kunicki, as he’s the subject of the audience yelling, “dude, just stop. Stop!” Mike is working a menial job, caring for Vinny, his brother with Down’s Syndrome, and his recovering alcoholic father. He also never stops looking at his Crypto account. His two moods, manic and panic, solely depend on whether his crypto is up or down. As you might guess, it’s usually down, and when it’s up, he makes even worse decisions. It’s a film of making terrible decisions and the audience is forced ot watch it happen.
I so do not understand Crypto. Maybe I’m just an old man (an achy 43), but I just can’t wrap my head around it. Luckily, the movie just treats it like anyone watching the market, one specific stock they think is on the edge of going big. I still recall when some of my Navy buddies got really into silver. They each bought about a hundred bucks worth and spent every minute checking to see if it went up, like the hundred bucks of silver will suddenly become a hundred thousand. It was frustrating, and no matter how many people tried to explain it to them (and to go back to work, those altimeters aren’t going to fix themselves), they stayed glued to their little investment.
They have the same thought process as Mike. He’s the type of guy who continually thinks, “if this one thing works, it’ll all be okay,” but it’s always lofty things. Every decision he makes is rash, seeing an impossible lining and outcome. Every one of these decisions is met with someone saying, “Maybe let’s not.” And everyone backfires. Quitting the job, selling a house, and opening up the relationship with his girlfriend. No thoughts, just action. Even if not bartering in a sliver of silver, we all know people like this. That’s what makes $POSITIONS so interesting. It’s said we’re all two paychecks away from poverty. But what if we’re the ones setting ourselves up for failure?
He’s an interesting character study, as is the case in this sort of film. By all accounts, he’s a loser – no one respects him, he tries too hard, and he lives on the edge of everyone’s lives. He claims to be straight edge and condescendingly gets on people who aren’t. But he’s blind to his addictions, that being the crypto and how much of the boiling pot is due to him climbing in willingly and turning on the heat. We laugh despite how terrible he is as a brother, boyfriend, son, etc., in the sheer audacity.
It’s a film about addictions and getting caught in cycles. Mike’s addictions and explorations, the ones he avoids from family trauma, and the ones he doesn’t realize he has. A little of his dad’s demons. The people around him, in addition to the party lifestyle. His cousin, trying to get on the straight and narrow, is pulled into Mike’s hairbrained schemes. Miopic outlooks for all, but that’s life in dead-end small towns.
Brandon Daley, with cinematography by Drew Angle, creates a world where we can see why Mike would be the way he is, even if we hate him for it. It’s a bleak, depressing, grey Midwest. There might not be an escape, and becoming hopelessly addicted to Crypto or other things is a quick way out if it works.
$POSITIONS is an interesting, darkly funny journey of a man’s never-succeeding quest to be anything but himself. With a great, manic lead performance and a never-ending series of miseries, Brandon Daley succeeded where his protagonist failed.
$POSITIONS is presented as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival, running July 16th through August 3rd.