Respected Independent studio A24 brings us another Murder/Mystery, Horror, Black Comedy; this time starring Amandla Stenberg, SNL’s Pete Davidson, and Oscar Nominee Maria Bakalova in Bodies Bodies Bodies.
A wealthy group of Gen Z, twenty-somethings decide to ride out a hurricane in a mansion; when their Murder-In-The-Dark style game starts to go awry.
The Plot – ‘Bodies’
Bee only started dating Sophie a few weeks ago, and now she gets to meet Sophie’s wealthy and accomplished friends at a mansion, during a hurricane.
Bee, played by Oscar Nominee Maria Bakalova, not surprisingly feels nervous to meet the people important to her new girlfriend. Sophie, played by Amandla Stenberg, seems unphased by the introduction; as her best friend David, played by Pete Davidson, and the rest of the group eyeball Bee up and down.
David’s girlfriend Emma, played by Chase Sui Wonders; Jordan, played by Myha’la Herrold; and Alice, the Podcaster, played by Rachel Sennott; all greet Bee with judging glances. Alice’s boyfriend Greg, played by Lee Place, also is new to the judgy group, but he doesn’t seem to care about acceptance from the crowd — leaving the new girl to feel all the pressure.
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The remote mansion appears to have all the supplies needed to survive the storm – flashlights, glowsticks, alcohol, and of course, cocaine. The group of seven seems to partake in all of the above as the night wears on, when Sophie suggests they play a party game.
The girls all know the drama that can play out, but Greg still wants to know all about the murder mystery game. Soon, one of them will get an ‘X’, and the rest have to figure out who is the killer.
They turn out the lights and start to play. That is, until the first body turns out to ACTUALLY be dead, and the group must figure out who the REAL killer is amongst the group. This is definitely NOT in the rules of ‘Bodies’.
The Good – ‘Bodies’
Gen Z and Cast
Murder/Mystery horror films have been done before, but this one takes on the wealthy and woke twenty-somethings making up Generation Z.
‘Bodies’ Director Halina Reijn, makes her English language film debut fully embracing all things about Gen Z, including many things people might find irritating. Reijn looks at the Generation’s dependence on cell phones and prescription medication. And, all the politically correct psychological terms being thrown around.
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Whether it’s ‘escalating’ a situation, ‘gaslighting’ a friend, or ‘triggering’ a panic attack, all the generational buzzwords we’ve come to associate with Gen Z fly back and forth between the characters.
The Cast, led by Amandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, and Maria Bakalova shines despite a subpar script. The talented cast members create a coherent narrative that works from moment to moment. However, even when the individual characters and script are so poorly defined one can barely tell them apart.
Rachell Sennott and Myha’la Herrold, especially, bring a manic energy that ties the story together as much as possible. But, even great acting can only flush out a story so much when a poor script fails to define the characters in a specific and differentiated way.
The Bad – ‘Bodies’
The Script/Characters
While Director Halina Reijn successfully integrates many Gen Z tropes into various aspects of the story, the script fails to differentiate and define our characters.
The characters don’t have clear motivations and personality traits, which then fails to create clear conflict in the story. Without defining our characters, this makes understanding the who and why of the character deaths impossible to understand. This confuses our narrative.
We get characters throwing lines at each other, but the dialogue has no meaning without the context of a character’s personality. Alice, Emma, and Jordan are seemingly interchangeable with the only real difference being who is dating whom. And, who has the podcast.
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Even Bee and Sophie are so poorly defined, their relationship seems to have no basis in reality beyond physical attraction. Sophie tells Bee she loves her, but there’s no reason given as to why, and no reason as to why Bee doesn’t return her ‘I love you.’
The biggest failure is the supposed ‘Best Friend’ relationship between Sophie and David. Not only is there not a well defined relationship between the two, one wonders why they are considered ‘friends’ in the first place. They don’t seem to enjoy each other’s company, so why are they ‘best friends’?
The Review – ‘Bodies’
The premise of this film takes a well-conceived new twist on an old murder/mystery story, this time for the twenty-somethings making up Generation Z.
Add in a healthy dose of wealth and privilege to the equation. And, we have the potential for a fun and self-aware murder mystery romp. All the pop culture, psychological references are there, but none of the characters display much of an individual personality.
Without well defined characters, the story suffers as the conflicts between characters fall flat.
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Normally A24 puts out high quality, independent films, with well defined characters, but ‘Bodies’ falls short of that standard.
‘Bodies’ represents Director Halina Reijn’s first foray into an English language film. But, the 46 year old misfires on her connection to Gen Z. There’s a definite disconnect between what the movie sets out to do and how it comes across.
The friendships and romances between characters fail to distinguish themselves from one another, or even begin to feel realistic. Instead of rooting for or against our characters, one feels simply ambivalent about whether the characters survive the murder mystery.
Not a good sign for a whodunit. Skip ‘Bodies’.
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Score
Score
Review Nation Score
Bodies Bodies Bodies take a rather cynical look at wealthy, Gen Z, twenty-somethings. Stars Amandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova.
