Sanctuary: Quite a Conundrum

My Grade:  A

NOTE:  I saw this film at an early screening at a film festival. It was still just called Quite a Conundrum and some changes may have been made now that the film has been released. This review is of the festival version of the film.

I saw this film because I was forcefully told I had to attend the screening by the film’s director, Thomas L. Phillips.  I was at the opening night cocktail party of the New York International Film Festival in Los Angeles (I know it seems weird, but it has an LA leg and a NY leg) and I was talking with my friend Catherine Trail (an actress in the film) when she introduced me to Thomas.  He essentially told me that I HAVE TO go to their screening, so I did.  And I have to say, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the film.  I don’t know what I really expected, but Quite a Conundrum (which I will call QAC for the rest of this review since I don’t want to keep typing “conundrum”) exceeded my expectations.

Many words can be used to describe QAC.  Zany.  Hilarious.  Gross.  Dark.  Disturbing.  Violent.  Two words you can’t use, though:  “predictable” and “unoriginal”.  The film chronicles essentially one day in the lives of two 20-something girls who love to party, Mimi and Tabitha.  Mimi still lives with her parents, but they are out of town for the night... party time!  Mimi’s little sister, Kylene, joins them and they invite three guys:  Harris (Kylene’s boyfriend), Sean (Tabitha’s boyfriend), and Dutch (Sean’s friend).  The party is raucous fun drenched in alcohol, chlorine, and sex until it takes it’s first dark turn.  That dark turn is followed by many other dark turns that I won’t even mention because you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.  Basically all hell breaks loose at this party and it threatens everyone’s safety, sanity, and even their lives.

The amazing thing about this film is that, for how wild the story is, it feels realistic within the film.  The characters even recognize how unrealistically crazy the night’s events are, but they somehow make sense as the film progresses.  As hectic as the night becomes, though, the characters still keep their wit intact giving us just the right about of hilarious humor to counteract the darkness that pervades the film.  The seamless transitions from disturbingly dark to sidesplittingly funny are what make this film stand out.

The two other things that really stand out about this film are the acting and the editing.  Normally, when I watch an indie film, there are one or two really strong performances while the rest are mediocre at best.  Not so in QAC.  The entire cast is great and their ability to play well together is even greater.  The back-and-forth banter seems as natural as I have seen in a while.  This is in part because of the writing, but has a lot to do with the acting abilities of the cast.  Another impressive thing about the writing is how well we get to know these characters in one night of their lives and only 82 minutes of film.  They are as well-developed as they need to be for us to care about their personal problems and, more importantly, whether they live or die.

I don’t usually mention a lot of the technical aspects of filmmaking in my reviews because most of the general public are not filmmakers... however, I have to mention the editing here because I noticed it.  It’s tough to explain what makes the editing so good, but one scene in particular sticks out.  Near the beginning, Mimi is working out on a punching bag when Tabitha comes in and “works out” by dancing semi-erotically to a song by The Lonely Island (great song choice).  The angles and quick cuts of the punching bag make it look like a fight scene while the shots caressing Tabitha’s curves make it look like a music video.  That combination makes for a visually fantastic scene (and does a lot to develop their different personalities).

It’s not all good, though.  There were a couple of scenes in which I noticed some color correction could be used.  Now, I know this was a festival cut and some changes will inevitably be made; but, a couple of times, different angles of the same room in the same scene didn’t have the same look.  This may have only been noticeable since the rest of the film looked so good, but it’s still a small problem that could use some attention.

The bigger problem, though, is that this film will not reach the wide audience that the filmmakers may want it to because of how raunchy and disturbing it is.  For instance, the opening scene ends with a grossly funny moment (involving a condom) that may offend some people enough that they walk out and give up on the film all together.  There are also a few other scenes that delve into some pretty messed up things that some people may not be able to handle (3 people walked out during the screening I was at).  I’m guessing that the filmmakers are aware of the possibly limited audience and are okay with it, though.  I honestly can’t see this film making a big splash in a wide-release situation at thousands of theaters across the country because of the subject matter.  I do, however, see it being a HUGE hit on Netflix, and other similar platforms by garnering a very large cult following.

Overall, this film pretty much blew me away.  It is out-there, appalling, and chock full of very adult humor but there is much more to it than that.  The bad guy in the film actually has a purpose and reasoning behind his heinous acts (which you don’t see in a lot of films) and the ending is emotionally powerful.  I didn’t cry, but a handful of people in our 38 person screening room did.  This film will go places, and rightfully so because it is very good.  Kudos to all.