From the Nashville Film Festival
A Couple of Shorts, Part 1
Casual (Music Video) by Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan (your favorite artist’s favorite artist) has shot to fame after her song “Good Luck, Babe!” broke into the Billboard Hot 100. With hits like this and “Casual,” it’s clear that it was only a matter of time before she became super popular. This music video has imagination, fantasy creatures, bloody deaths, and a love story. As Roan sings about how her partner wants to keep things casual despite their clearly conflicting actions, her character (she plays herself) falls in love with a sharp-toothed siren (Mika Lesha) who kills men. Roan is clearly head-over-heels for the siren, even changing the décor of her room to look like an underwater paradise. However, the siren does not have the same intensity of feelings. At the end, the siren goes off with another man, presumably to eat him, while Roan looks on, sadly. As she turns away, the water on the beach washes up red. The makeup by Chloe Gingold is wonderful, particularly on the siren who is both compelling and terrifying. Gingold also cleverly makes Roan into a glamorous version of Pierrot: a character of pantomime and commedia dell’arte, the sad clown. The direction by Hadley Hillel is wonderful as you can feel Chappell Roan’s love, heartbreak and anger (primarily with herself). The shots themselves are beautiful, particularly in the “happy” moments when everything is bright and soft. It elicits a wistful feeling, similar to the idea of looking back with rose-colored glasses. I really enjoyed this music video. As my step-daughter said, “It’s fire. I love it!”
ILY, BYE
Cringe comedy is all about finding humor in awkward moments (think The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm) and, written and directed by Taylor James, has plenty of it! The video begins with the protagonist, Siobhan (Meg Stalter), getting a job opportunity from her roommate’s work place. After practicing what to say, she calls her potential new boss, prepared to speak with him, only to get his voicemail instead. As she leaves a long, rambling, socially awkward voice mail ending with “I love you, bye,” the audience can’t help but wince and cringe. She goes to her roommate’s place of work, intent on deleting the voicemail, revealing that she actually left multiple voicemails in an attempt to correct the first one, making everything worse. She breaks into the boss’s office and listens to his voicemails to delete her own, and discovers that although he is married to a woman, he is having an affair with a man that calls him, “Daddy.” You probably guessed, but this part is also unbelievably cringe. Cringe humor is difficult because you can quickly go overboard. Although I ultimately enjoyed this film, there were a few moments that were more uncomfortable than funny. My favorite part of this video was the set design and costume design. Siobhan’s wardrobe and room match her cheery and silly personality perfectly. The acting in this video is outstanding. The fact that Meg Stalter is able to make you like, and root for, this over-the-top character is down to her facial expressions and delivery. She’s sort of like the airhead cheerleader that you like despite yourself. Short and sweet, this film is only 13 minutes, so go check it out!
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Bethany is a wife, mother, and dog mom. In her spare time she likes to read, write fiction, and go out with her family. She feels lucky to live in Music City where she can go to the symphony or theatre all the time.
