Emergency movie review: Comedy of chaos works as a satire on continuing racism in the US despite talk of inclusivity-Entertainment News , Firstpost

May 28, 2022 trendingspace 0 Comments

Carey Williams’ Emergency is a finely-crafted film complemented by nuanced performances of RJ Cyler, Donald Elise, Sebastian Chacon, Maddie Nichols, Sabrina Carpenter and Madison Thompson.

Three guys of colour find a barely-conscious white girl on their apartment floor on a night of party-hopping, and thereby hangs an all-American tale of satire. Director Carey Williams and writer KD Davila’s Emergency, a Sundance 2022 winner for screenwriting, starts off seeming like a classic teen comedy laced with a commentative subtext before veering into wonky thriller zone, cleverly living up to what the trailer punchline promised: It’s not what it looks like.

Williams and Davila have adapted the film from their earlier short film of the same name, which had won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2018. Essentially, they have expanded the scope that the original 12-minute short created, extending the story to delve into greater textual detail. In the process, they explore ‘what next’ possibilities of the core idea and turn it into a full-length feature screenplay. If the experiment seems interesting, the filmmaker-writer duo’s effort is laudable for the way they manage to create fresh intrigue while reinventing the story. It is a reason you are hooked to Emergency the feature film even if you have watched Emergency the short film.

Williams and team weren’t operating with too high a production budget, but the film looks stylish despite maintaining an indie feel. Retaining the thematic crux of a brilliant short film and mixing it with essential ingredients of commercial cinema, Davila’s screenplay juggles varying moods as humour blends with suspense drama. In all this, the film is smart enough while playing out its socio-cultural purpose. Its implicit message quietly disturbs as the narrative addresses racial profiling and police prejudice in the United States, and yet the issues highlighted are never too overbearing to throw the tone of irreverent fun off balance.

The film’s intent of satirising a society that simply won’t get over its racial bias reminds one of Spike Lee’s oeuvre, besides efforts as Reginald Hudlin’s 1990 cult comedy House Party or, more recently, Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror gem Get Out. In form and execution, though, Williams and Davila have created wholly original content. The emphasis on racism is evident even as the story opens, with a white professor needlessly repeating the “N-word” while discussing hate speech during a lecture. She zeroes in on the two Blacks in her classroom and seeks their view. The two students are Sean (RJ Cyler) and Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins), who nurture academic dreams as any of their white classmates, though Sean’s mind is occupied with tackling a very different challenge at the moment. He dreams to do the ‘Legendary Tour’ that, put simply, requires him to attend seven exclusive Spring Break frat parties in one night. Sean wants Kunle to be his partner on the madcap mission and the latter, who is more academically oriented, reluctantly agrees. Doing so would make them the first Black students to scale the high, after all.

The backdrop sets the stage for a whirlwind 105 minutes, even as what begins like a slapstick about a couple of goofy college kids morphs into wild misadventure. Sean and Kunle’s epic night of hijinks is fated to be jinxed, for they walk into their apartment to find a white girl on the living room floor. The girl (Maddie Nichols) has clearly passed out and they have no clue who she is. Worse, their flatmate Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), a Latino, although very much at home, has been too busy playing video games in another room to have any idea of what might have transpired.

The film is admirably subtle while focussing on minority psychosis in the United States when it comes to a brush with the law. The guys consider calling the cops but are quick to realise the risk factor such an action would entail, given the reality at hand — a white girl lying unconscious in an apartment where three guys of colour live and which presently “reeks of weed”. What’s worse, the girl could be on substance. Dumping her somewhere far from home would seem like a safer option than dialling 911. The situation complicates as the girl’s sister Maddie (Sabrina Carpenter) gets down to tracking her cellphone.

Davila’s writing is the biggest asset of the film, and the reason why Emergency connects and regales so simply. Chaos and confusion have traditionally been classic tools to set up humour, particularly the slapstick variety. Davila’s writing mixes slapstick and suspense intelligently while crafting a satire about the everyday hazards an average American of colour could continue facing despite all talk of inclusivity.

The plot has been structured to unfold as a road movie once the action gets going and director Williams uses the idea to pile up the tension gradually, letting the satire flow all along. Williams’ storytelling is interesting for the way he narrates the tale of a night of heady excesses and yet maintains a tone of stark realism. The film’s ending, however, could leave some viewers puzzled.

A big reason the script’s constant shifts from frolic to frenzy works cohesively is the technical support Williams gets, especially from cinematographer Michael Dallatorre and film editor Lam T. Nguyen. Sleekly shot and finely cut, the narrative maintains a sense of menace even during the goofiest of scenes, as the protagonists grapple with a wild night that threatens to go out of control. There’s a strong socio-cultural context to the characters that the actors get to play out too, relevant to the times. The studious Kunle is the nice guy of the duo, the son of Nigerian doctors who is preparing to go to Princeton for a Ph.D. His polished personality makes Sean call him “Oreo” — Brown on the outside and white inside. Sean, on the other hand represents a very different Black America. His background allows him to afford indulging in mischief every now and then, he understands the “street” way better. Their friend Carlos is the nerd of the lot. He may not look it but he is studying to be a rocket scientist. Together the trio would seem like any average group of white American youngsters — except that they are not.

For the non-starry cast, these well-penned protagonists come as an obvious advantage. RJ Cyler as Sean, Donald Elise Watkins as Kunle and Sebastian Chacon as Carlos react impressively to their roles, living up their characters as guys next door rendered vulnerable by racial demarcation. Overall, the cast comes up with nuanced portrayals that complement a finely-crafted film.

Emergency is your film if you love cutting-edge entertainers that communicate beyond the mere story they narrate. At once provocative, funny and thrilling, the essence of the film lingers in your mind till long after.

Rating: * * * 1/2

Emergency is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.