
At the center of ‘Little Death’, directed by Jack Begert who is primarily noted for music videos, there is a rather disconcerting choice to be observed. It is essentially the choice of making two films that are distinctly different, and forcing them to work together. Looking closely with a squint, the thematic laces connecting the two can also be observed: both stories are about addiction and are narrated with differing prisms, but where the one’s texture is grating, the other’s is nuanced center’s writing. It’s just that you have to survive the first one to reach the one that is better in execution.
Begert is a music video director with credits such as Olivia Rodrigo’s recent “Get Him Back!” and Jack Harlow’s Fergie sampling “First Class”. The aesthetic of that genre is best suited in the second half of ‘Little Death ‘ where the story is told by a deep-voiced depressed sex hating Martin, a TV writer played by David Schwimmer, and later Gaby Hoffmann, but I will come to that in a moment.
Martin is embarrassed he works on “cool” NBC’s sitcom a nod to the actor’s “Friends” shenanigans past – and is trying to sell a screenplay he is hoping to direct based on his personal life experiences.
His disdain for his fiancée, Jena Malone is obvious and at the same time, he daydreams about some strange woman Angela Sarafyan, and these thoughts are used as interludes containing film clips and cartoons.
When some of the executives tell Martin that his heroine should be a woman and he cringingly revolts about the very existence of wokeness, it is here that Hoffmann appears in the role. This, however, seems to be a sharp, even if only vaguely articulated Charlie Kaufman-esque shakeup. Hoffmann is intended to be what it would be like if you were gunned to the head and had no choice but to change a character’s gender and nothing else about him. And yes, Martin would still be as dull as a woman. But there is an interesting take to the Schwimmer habits that Hohmann is willing to go for; unfortunately, it is just an interesting take that fails to mean anything in the end.
The irony in this segment of “Little Death” is quite weak.
They both seem to berate the character of Martin and provide him with a voice box. The movie seems to try and ask an ever-relevant question: “Why can’t this guy speak for himself? Is all this diversity in Hollywood really necessary?” (Seth Green appears in the film as Martin one of the writer’s friends who accuses society.) Schwimmer; the downtrodden face of the man wanting more but gradually feeling his time around Martin turns out to be the one of chaos.
And yet! Do not start hating or liking Martin too much for the time being because the next act does not revolve around him any longer. Giving spoilers on how it transitions over to this point would be overstepping and thus will not be discussed, but all of a sudden we are introduced with AJ (Dominic Fike) and Karla (Talia Ryder), a young couple in their mid-twenties, who had their car and their possessions snatched while they were transporting drugs, although they did also acquire a rather adorable Chihuahua. Begert departs from what seemed a cluttered style persisting a chaotic tone, unneeded cutaways to focus on their journey across Los Angeles which eventually transforms into a soft story about addiction to drugs instead of an annoying wretch-filled tale.
Both AJ and Karla are addicts, however, Fike and Ryder refrained from performing the most common things attributed to these notions.
Certainly, they are using drugs, but the dependence is more latent than overt. Ryder, in particular, seems to be aware and even takes advantage of Karla’s weaknesses, and when one finds out how deep her drug addiction goes, it is tragic and not at all self-revealing. On the other hand, Fike, who first rose to prominence for his role in ‘Euphoria’ is not shy about his drug use either and delivers a similarly restrained performance, culminating in an unexpectedly poignant final frame.
That said, it should not be taken to mean that the latter portion of the movie was devoid of any trademark lunacy. For example, tacos, particularly that of AJ who dreams of launching a taco truck, a pig race at a party that Karla attends with him and there is a visit to a dealer’s house, yet another chintzy take on the Alfred Molina detour in “Boogie Nights.” It has Karl Glusman in an incel role, appearing as if he has to prevent AJ and Karla’s stoned friend Sante Bentivoglio from advancing towards a snow globe.
It is understandable why “Little Death” has captivated the attention of Darren Aronofsky who is an executive producer alongside his Protozoa company. It seems like a spiritual successor to Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream”, the way it traverses the world of poppers and tablets. It just does not have the frustratingly invasive Aronofsky energy.
With the jarring structure of the film plus its pacing, you can already see what mode Begert was gearing towards.
Martin is an addict but he trying to hold himself asa respectable person, and can be even viler than AJ and Karla, yet the structure’s whiplash is just too strong. To tell the longer films this way every character feels like has been cheated and the connections are never allowed to develop.
Begert’s work shines the most when it is most simplistic as we join two friends on a drug-fueled ‘trip’ around Los Angeles. And when the camera scopes out the lesser known parts and the inner of the city’s ‘kupeshna’ hi to Canter’s it happens that AJ and Karla’s path leads further to their perhaps rehabilitation. Martin? Sure, what do we require him for?
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