Bodies Bodies Bodies
Inventive and funny, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a fairly balanced political satire couched in a whodunnit thriller.
Bee (Maria Bakalova) tags along with her new girlfriend Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) to a mansion in the middle of the countryside. The mansion is owned by Sophie’s friend David (Pete Davidson), but their presence is relatively unexpected by David and the rest of the partygoers - Alice (Rachel Sennott) and her older partner Greg (Lee Pace), actress Emma (Chase Sui Wonders) and the responsible one Jordan (Myha’la Herrold) - given that Sophie’s family cut her off after repeated drug use, and her subsequent shunning of their entire friend group. Tensions are high, and as a hurricane rolls in, the group turns the lights out and decides to play a game. The game is Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, a sort of murder mystery game where one person plays dead, and once the rest discover their ‘body’, the group determines who killed them. Only this time, a real body turns up. As the night progresses, the group has to figure out who is steadily killing them off one by one.
Directed by Halina Rejin, Bodies Bodies Bodies is all in on subverting genre norms in the aid of (a) entertaining and (b) providing a commentary on the disparate nature of right and left wing politics. Thankfully for moviegoers, it is in the former that the film winds up excelling.
There’s something refreshing about a film that will keep you guessing like this. The twists and turns of the story, and the ultimate reveal, are so wild and unexpected that you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat throughout. It certainly isn’t the scariest film in the world, but the humour and surprise of not being able to guess where it is going more than makes up for that.
Across the board, the performances are wonderful, with a who’s who cast of young incredible talent. Stenberg, Bakalova and Davidson all make strong impressions, but the two standouts are undoubtedly Lee Pace and Rachel Sennott.
From a direction and visual standpoint, the film is gorgeously shot. Whether that’s the neon highlights, the oddly aging and decrepit mansion in the midst of this hurricane, or the blocking that conveys as much about the power imbalance as any dialogue ever could.
Ultimately, Bodies Bodies Bodies is an unexpected gem, and a game we’d play again.
