Sew Torn Review: Freddy Macdonald’s Feature-Length Debut Embraces the Offbeat and Visually Distinctive Rashomon-style Crime Comedy
Sew Torn is about choices, choices and choices. Perfect crime. Call police. Drive away. The latter three shape Freddy Macdonald’s feature-length debut, where the director also wrote the screenplay, told in a quirky Rashomon-style of a what-if three-story structure. The movie itself is based on Macdonald’s own 2019 short film that runs for six minutes and features three characters: Barbara (Dagna Litzenberger-Vinet) and two motorcycle thugs played by Cor Boersma and Thomas Douglas.
Back to the feature-length version, there’s a sense of peculiar charm right from the get-go, with the movie itself shot on location in the idyllic countryside of Switzerland. Not to mention the look and feel of a place that looks like it exists in an alternate reality within Macdonald’s narrative and visual bubble. It’s hard not to fall for his distinct visual palette that alternates between its colourful oddity and the macabre humour vibe.
The movie introduces us to a lone young woman named Barbara (Eve Connolly), who struggles to keep her late mother’s shop, specialising in sewing supplies. Barbara is also an expert seamstress who provides mobile services, complete with the embedded giant spool of thread at the back of her bright Volkswagen. Her day turns into a disaster from the moment she meets up with her fussy middle-aged client, Grace (Caroline Goodall), who wants everything to be perfect for her wedding. Grace needs the button to be adjusted at the back of her wedding dress, and it was supposed to be a routine job for Barbara.
But then, something happens, which requires Barbara to head back to her shop to replace the button. En route, this is where the trouble starts. A supposedly normal drive across the quiet valley ends up with Barbara stumbling upon an accident involving two injured strangers, but what catches her attention the most is a briefcase full of cash. Besides, she needs the money badly to save her shop from closing down for good. Macdonald soon pulls off an elaborate scene that showcases Barbara’s undeniable talent as a seamstress to improvise the situation using threads and whatever relevant sewing materials, resulting in a fun Rube Goldberg-like moment.
And if you are familiar enough with this type of what-if storytelling, you know things are not going to end well as planned. Barbara’s three choices come with different consequences, and each time, whatever plan she attempts to pull off isn’t going to be a walk in the park. At one point, there’s an extended scene where Barbara tries to obtain the key for the handcuff by using a makeshift blow dart put together from her sewing kit.
Each of the three stories revolves around her not only dealing with the two motorcyclists, including criminals Joshua (Calum Worthy) and Beck (Thomas Douglas), but also an elderly, fearsome mobster, Hudson (a formidable John Lynch), who turns out to be Joshua’s dad. Hudson is particularly tough to deal with, and he doesn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty. His menacing, no-nonsense antagonist turn is undoubtedly one of the movie’s highlights.
The movie also introduces K Callan in her casually deadpan supporting role as Ms Engel, the town’s only police officer, but also doubled as a notary and even a wedding officiant. Frankly, the whole movie is all about style over substance, but at least the style is good enough to keep me entertained throughout its lean 95-minute running time.
The cast, apart from John Lynch and K Callan’s notable supporting performances, Eve Connolly deserves mention for her lead turn, whose predominantly laconic appearance speaks volumes as Barbara, trying to do the right thing. Macdonald’s offbeat visual motifs, with the use of primary colour hues, are complemented well with Sebastian Klinger’s vivid cinematography and Jacob Tardien’s evocative score that reflects Barbara’s course of action.
