Sissy Review: #Triggered
By Laura Monaghan
On behalf of the Curieux editorial team, I’d like to thank Lucy Robson and Dendy Cinemas for hosting a wonderful screening for the film, Sissy in the Capital Film Festival program 2022. The atmosphere was beyond inviting and Curieux are grateful for the provided opportunity to review such a great local film production.
One of the starting films featured in this year’s Capital Film Festival was Sissy, co-directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes. The screening of this film was bitingly amusing and dynamic, and it was a real pleasure to have a large portion of the film crew and cast there to answer questions and provide their personal insights into the film’s production.
Sissy is a local Australian film, shot completely in Canberra and starring local Canberran Emily De Margheriti as well as Aisha Dee and Lucy Barrett. This film is sure to both amuse and shock the audience not just because of its gory details but also its comedic take on events that spiral into something horribly dark and ruthless.
Tween BFF’s Cecilia and Emma swear they will be best friends even when pooping their pants in the nursing home. However, when school bully, Alex enters the picture, their heart sworn friendship starts to unravel at the seams. Years later, Cecilia is now a self-care guru and social media influencer. But when a surprise invitation comes her way, Cecilia quickly learns that her new boundaries and mantras might not be enough to get her through a weekend away for Emma’s bachelorette party.
Sissy will have you be believing one truth only to slap you in the face with another. Twisting gory details with sharp, modern humour, this film is a comedic deep dive into modern realities and is guaranteed to hit home with the current social-media crazed generation. Hopefully, it will inspire (through very grisly humour) the belief that self-worth and validation can’t come from social media. Regardless, the underlying theme of childhood friendship and bullying is universal enough that anyone in Sissy’s audience will be able to connect to the reality of its potential lingering dangers.
The film is light on any actual jump scares however it does evoke a sense of suspense as we discover how truly triggered someone can get. Sissy does this by relying heavily on genre conventions such as unusual and unsettling angles as well as uncannily gruesome transitions between scenes – I will never look at tomato sauce on my meat pie in the same way…
Moreover, a decent portion of the film is shot in the dark with underexposed, shadowy shots that leave the audience on the edge of their seats. Close up shots also helped to create a sense of concern about what lingers at the edge of the periphery. But what truly sealed the deal on Sissy’s horrific atmosphere was the music intentionally brought to the forefront of the film. A fair amount of vintage style music was given new life and tied every story element together.
Overall, Sissy took the time we’re living in, with digital media at our fingertips and social influencers slowly finding their place amongst celebrities and film stars and exposed its dark and toxic underbelly for all to see.