DUCKY'S DISCOURSE: Film Review no. 1, SMILE (2022)

Entry no. 1: SMILE (2022)

(WARNING: light spoilers ahead, nothing that will give away the entire plot, but just a bit to contextualize what I'm saying. Also, TW for mentions of su*c*de, trauma, mental iwwness, etc.)

Ok. So, here's the thing. I went into this one expecting only laughs. But honestly? It was actually pretty good as a contemporary horror film.

I think the main issue that Smile suffers from is <3silly trailer syndrome<3, which is really unfortunate because had I not had a day off today with nothing to do, I probably never would have given this one a chance.

So, right off the bat, this movie sets us up with a pretty bleak setting. Our main protagonist is a mousy little clinical psychotherapist with a traumatic backstory that is heavily alluded to in a cutaway. She could be a girlboss, but babe isn't really owning her power and is just coming across as super timid and unsure of herself. That alone is enough to put us on edge, as she's dealing with patients who are unstable, and without any strength from our MC (main character), what the hell are we supposed to do? 

I'd like to point out that at this point I was veeeery skeptical, because our first introduction to one of her patients is a man named Carl, who seems to be exhibiting symptoms of OCD, but - no shade to the actor - I just wasn't buying it. It felt so hokey, and, like, very scripted. As someone who is a #BipolarBimbo and has her fair share of experience in the psych ward, this really wasn't a good start, as I felt an overwhelming sense of the movie not knowing what the fuck it was talking about. But, since we were only like, 5 minutes in, I reminded myself to settle the fuck down and give it a chance.

Anywho, the tl;dr of this movie's plot is essentially this: after witnessing the unaliving of one of her patients, our mc Rose becomes afflicted by a smiling curse that must drive her to unaliving in front of someone else, so as to continue the curse. Basically, it's The Ring, but instead of a videotape it's a bunch of smiling people. I know this doesn't make it sound like a good movie, but hear me out.

What made this movie so good was, to me, the depiction of trauma. If you take away the supernatural curse bullshit and just look at it for what it is, this movie is about trauma, and how even if we don't want to, our own traumas cause us to traumatize others. There's a specific scene in this movie that absolutely sent fucking chills down my spine, which reminds me, if you take issue with the death of a cat (death not seen onscreen, but we do catch a glimpse of it's body), you'll want to skip this scene at about 43:28. 

The big issue when addressing topics like these in movies is that when you depict mental illness and trauma as scary, you have to do so truthfully. To me the sort of litmus test for this is what about it is depicted as scary: the way in which it affects someone, or the person themselves. To demonize someone for being unstable is so lazy and unfair, but to accurately portray the struggles as being scary (which they are), I find that to be a whole lot more interesting. And honestly, I think Smile manages to do this.

One line that I found particularly poignant happened right near the end. As Rosiepop is fighting one of her trauma demons, the demon says, "you can't escape your own mind, Rose", to which she finally steps into her girlbossery and says, "it's my mind, you can't escape it either". Like, okay Miss Thing!!!! Thank you for shifting my entire perspective on my own trauma!! And once you look back on the entire movie with that new perspective, it just becomes so much more chilling. It becomes less of a Ring-ripoff and more of a step inside the mind of someone who is battling severe traumas. Something I noticed in this movie was a motif of the word "crazy". I'm not crazy! Have you gone crazy? That guy is crazy. She's just a crazy person. It presented everything in such a sympathetic light, that no, they aren't crazy, they're battling something that you cannot see. Maybe we need to trick the neurotypicals into taking us seriously this way?

Anyway, don't get me wrong, this movie isn't an Oscar-winner. It has its flaws, it isn't perfect. I think major complaint on this one is the editing more than anything. The lighting was so dark in some scenes I literally could not see a goddamned thing, and the sound editing was iffy at times. But ultimately, I'm actually really glad I watched this one. It shifted my perspective on some of my own life experiences, and it kept me completely entertained on this Sunday afternoon. And at the absolute least, Kyle Gallner was fine as hell in this motion picture, and I rather enjoyed looking at him throughout the runtime.

I give SMILE 4/5 stars.

 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

𓆩♡𓆪ducky𓆩♡𓆪