Superior (2021 | USA | 99 minutes | Erin Vassilopoulos)
Marian (Alessandra Mesa) is on the run, and ends up at the home of her estranged twin sister, Vivian (actual twin Anamari Mesa). What exactly she’s running from, and how these twins could have become so estranged, is for us to find out – or possibly not – over the course of this film, although for a while first we’ll hang out as they try on each other’s clothing and lives and start second-guessing some of the choices they’ve made.
Vivian comes with a husband who is the milquest of toasts: a “vintage tobacco tin” collector (but not a smoker!) and avid reader of coin-collector books, played with just the right touch of levity by the affable Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin). The walls of their home are painted in strong fuschias and mints, calling to mind both the uncanny suburbia of David Lynch as well as the unreal brightness of another film that premiered at this year’s virtual Sundance, like this one did: Strawberry Mansion.
The film is set in 1987, although it’s not loud about being a period piece – it just uses that as a jumping-off point for some visual elements, including some striking red costume pieces and the use of 16mm film, imperfections and all.
The seeds of this feature began their life in a 2015 short of the same title (which was in the past, but is no longer, hosted by Strawberry Mansion star/co-director Kentucker Audley’s platform NoBudge), with the same twin actors playing the same characters. But unlike many such short-to-feature transitions, this is not just a lengthening, an expanding of the short’s original idea: it’s more like a sequel, a 6-years-later jump forward in the lives of these characters. Alessandra Mesa, the twin who plays Marian, also joins director Erin Vassilopoulos as a co-writer here for the first time. Vassilopoulos takes some daring stylistic risks that pay off in this tense tale of misplaced identity, familial reconciliation, and feminist empowerment from an exciting new voice.
Image courtesy of North Bend Film Festival. Though the festival virtual screening window for the film has closed, it’s still possible to access “The Witching Hour” podcast via NBFF’s Eventive platform through Friday – this special episode features the director and stars and essentially functions as a film fest-style Q&A to accompany the feature.