Sissy
Nominated for a 2022 AACTA, Sissy is a mish mash of genres that is sure to leave you feeling a little uneasy. Co-written and directed by Kane Senses and Hannah Barlow, this film marries comedic satire with classic gore.
The films namesake Sissy, or as she now prefers to be called Cecilia, is expertly portrayed by Aisha Dee. Aisha sets the tone of the film in the first few minutes; identifying the facade her character puts into the world. I am loved. I am special. I am enough. I am doing my best. This mantra is repeated throughout the film in the most toxic way possible.
In a scenario we’ve all been victim to, Sissy runs into the last person she wants to see when she is just dashing to the chemist in her trackies. As it turns out, her childhood best friend Emma (Hannah Barlow) is getting married. She invites Sissy to join her engagement party and subsequently her hen’s weekend. The cracks in this relationship and obvious previous trauma start to show even before the unexpectedly hellish weekend begins.
The film is quite a slow burn to start with, only hinting at the horror and gore that is to come, before hitting hyperspeed in the last quarter of the flick. The audience is introduced to who Sissy sees as the villain of this story, Alex (Emily De Margheriti). She came along in early highschool and stole Sissy’s best friend away. She bullied her, and mocked her for being, well, a sissy.
Aisha Dee perfectly encapsulates that feeling of being an outsider and desperately wanting to fit in. Feeling like if that one person didn’t ruin everything for you, then you would truly be happy. But in reality can you really blame teenage bullying for your life falling apart? With the possibility of the audience quickly turning on this character, the performance from Aisha is vital. She is able to bring a level of empathy and victimization to a character that has done, and may do, terrible things.
It’s modern and of age without falling into the trap of being too cringy, although it can feel a little out of touch at times.
That said, it does show the grim realities of what we don’t see behind the screen. Are any of those self help, self healing, all natural influencers really practising what they preach? More likely it’s all a facade, whether it’s the clean girl aesthetic with the filthy apartment or the self love evangelical who’s a bully themselves.
With some nice homages to Australian culture, it does seem some of the writing is directed at international audiences, with an awkward line about a koala that no Australian would ever say. Also, it’s been done time and time again and we all know it doesn’t work, so can we please stop showing people completely changing their dark hair with a simple over the counter box dye?
It is refreshing to see representation in a film without it pretending like it’s special, but rather just an accurate picture of the population. This is shown in the diversity in the casting of POC actors, following a queer story and the creation of a character for Daniel Monks - an actor who himself, like his character Jamie, lives with a disability. This isn’t PC culture; this is simply a group of young people in Australia.
Speaking of, applause should go to the fantastic cast themselves. Filming in 2021 meant that Australian stars had come back home and were taking up opportunities down under. Aisha Dee, Hannah Barlow, Lucy Barrett (Fran), Yerin Ha (Tracey), Emily De Margheriti and Daniel Monks carried the weight of this film on their backs, providing believable group dynamics and some quippy one-liners.
Music and sound by Kenneth Lampl were essential setting the tone for what was to come, keeping things eerie but light, which could have easily otherwise been lost by the pacing of this film.
Without being able to use real animals for obvious reasons the special effects team did the best they could, with hyper realistic native wildlife and some less believable blood and guts on the human side.
Sissy is entertaining and disgusting. While it might attempt status as one of gore’s cult classics, in this case it may just come up short. The moral of the story is go see a professional and don’t believe everything you see online.
