By William Blick.
A visceral metaphor for grief in an impressive low-budget indie debut…..”
Mary Dauterman’s first feature length film, Booger, comes across as a cinematic exercise of sorts, i.e., a visceral metaphor for grief in an impressive low-budget indie debut. Not quite gory or suspenseful enough to satisfy the hardcore/ thriller horror crowd, it is chock full of grimy, cringy imagery that uniquely blends the grotesque, absurd, and dryly humorous with the profound.
Anna (Grace Glowicki) is looking for her recently deceased roommate’s runaway cat, “Booger,” who bites her before he disappears. Soon after, she begins to undergo physical transformations of disturbing proportions. All the while, her world seems to be crumbling around her. This can be seen in the opening montage of unanswered phone messages and cellphone footage of her roommate, a shot encapsulated in a shrinking oval that fades to black. Apparently, Anna is neglecting work and ignoring her rent payments. The viewer realizes that something is awry.
Booger is a curious, quiet, and restrained film. You could say it is a “slow-burn” if this were a thriller, but really it is not. There are so many static shots and little camera movements in many instances. It is more a sustained exploration of psychological processes and how they manifest themselves in in a multiplicity of ways. In a bizarre, fantastical twist of fate, these processes manifest themselves through Anna’s body. It becomes a symbolic coming to terms with life, on life’s terms. However, there are nerve-wracking scenes which evoke both revulsion and wonder as Anna undergoes her changes.
If you are looking for a fast-paced scare-fest, look elsewhere. If you do want to see a thought-provoking portrait of a person’s grieving process, with some grit and scenes to make you cringe or squirm, this film is for you. Much to Dauterman’s credit, the film not another body-horror film with typical tropes and generic story arcs. It is a fascinating meditation on the fragility of life and how humans deal with different aspects of their existence…all neatly packaged in a smartly humorous, yet stomach churning film.
The interesting dynamic at work here is how Dauterman pieces together the friendship that Anna once had through found cell phone footage, photographs, and dialogue. Some of it is funny and some bittersweet. The use of “Escape” (The Pina Colada song), which Anna and her roommate, Izzy, sing in Karaoke becomes a motif. It is an interesting choice because the Yacht rock classic captures a mood that is somber despite the song’s saccharine lyrics.
Grace Glowicki’s performance is compelling and believable, and Dauterman has done something quite special with a very limited budget, cast, and as a debut feature film artist. It is more of somber ode to friendship and hardships. While the film isn’t perfect, I think one can expect greater works from Dauterman.
William Blick is a film and literary/crime fiction critic; a librarian; and an academic scholar. His work has been featured in Senses of Cinema, Film Threat, Cineaction, and CinemaRetro, and he is a frequent contributor to Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of Noircon. His crime fiction has been featured in Close to the Bone, Pulp Metal Magazine, Out of the Gutter, and others. He is an Assistant Professor/Librarian for the City University of New York.
Read Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’s interview with Dauterman here.