SXSW FILM REVIEW: ‘The Carnivores’ Offers Lo-fi Psychological Romance

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The Carnivores is the kind of lo-fi dreamscape that would normally thrive at SXSW, and one does wonder what might have been had coronavirus not cancelled the annual festival. It’s not difficult to imagine the SXSW audience eating up director Caleb Johnson’s nightmare tinged story of love and connection in a time of uncertainty and dread.

Perhaps it will find its audience somewhere, even without any of the famous buzz that has launched so many indie careers over the past decades. Johnson would certainly deserve it. The Carnivores, while slow moving, is ultimately a touching romance whose weirdness doesn’t so much define the film as it does enhance it.

There’s a remarkable restraint to the film—which so often threatens to teeter off the edge it so carefully walks—that is difficult to ignore. It would have been easy for Johnson to turn this dreamlike tale into a Lynchian rip off by leaning into the weird. That would have been a mistake. Instead he finds the fine line between bizarre and reality that gives his story just enough room to breathe and work its indie magic.

The Carnivores follows a couple, Brett and Alice (Lindsay Burge and Tallie Medel), whose relationship has been strained recently owing to the impending death of their dog, Harvie. With the stress of funding the dog’s treatment and keeping their pet alive mounting, both women retreat to their own corners which are, unfortunately, disparate. The more Alice tries to connect with Brett, the more Brett pulls away. Unfortunately, Alice’s stress mounts to the point where she begins sleepwalking, often great distances. One morning she wakes up in the middle of the road, holding Harvie’s leash, with Harvie nowhere in sight.

Burge and Medel are both riveting in their roles, with each perfectly portraying characters who, for one reason or another, have forgotten how to love each other. Medel, especially, is required to put in some serious work as Alice descends deeper into her sleepwalking and her subsequent stresses. Johnson films the sleepwalking scenes with an aura of unease that could have easily been overdone but is, instead, presented with a unique precision.

Johnson is certainly a talented young director you can’t help but wonder where he might go next. The Carnivores is the kind of microbudget fare that does well at festivals and is used as a kind of steppingstone towards bigger and better things. He’d no doubt be capable. His script, co-written with Jeff Bay Smith, is a study in intimate storytelling that has its eye on bigger themes. Those themes might not be apparent right out of the gate, but The Carnivores funnels its narrative towards a moment of epiphany that is poignant and raw.

Shame as it is that The Carnivores didn’t get a chance to flex its muscles at SXSW, lovers of small scale indie films will find a lot to enjoy with this lo-fi wonder that, with luck, harkens the coming of a strong new voice into a post-mumblecore world.

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