Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: DASHCAM [Toronto International Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
After the success of "Host" which was made during the pandemic within some of his community of art friends in London, director Rob Savage premiered that film on Shudder. Watching it on a computer initially as this critic did, it works quite well since there is a lack of separation in what is real and what is action. After that, Blumhouse gave him a deal which undoubtedly opened the toolbox a little. His follow up, made a quick few months afterwards, is an interesting hybrid that pushes certain buttons but revs it up even more. "Dashcam" [Midnight Madness], again in almost the Screenlife genre, is raw but also takes into account both COVID and then ups it in a way that hasn't been done since "Chronicle" albeit on more micro-budgeted scale. Annie Hardy (who this critic wasn't aware of previous for her band Giant Drag) plays, like the friends in "Host", a version of herself that is adjusted. She does play her as a Trumper of sorts wearing a "Do Not Liberal" through most of the film. It is just her. The set up is her escaping LA to visit her former hip hop bandmate Stretch in London gets the ball rolling. Shenanigans ensue but not the way you think. Hardy's character is destructive yes but unbelievably fearless and her sense of humor is absolutely bonkers.
Unlike "Host" watching the comments and seeing sometimes how she reacts in real time is a stroke of genius (the film was watched on a bigger home screen -- which likely dilutes some of the situation but you can read the comments more clearly). But what is even more insane is how real some of the horrific textures of how the night progresses look. It is not really horror and sort of borderline supernatural and yet it keeps ratcheting. Some of the camera movements might be too much for the average viewer but they are so unrefined that you know they are refined because of the progression of action that happens. Hardy's presence, despite anything, is so powerful and over-the-top without seemingly disingenuous to her character. She can make you laugh oddly enough even when it is unbelievably tragic. The locations play to a certain genre underpinning and yet they do work playing at everything from "Blair Witch" to "Willy's Wonderland". One specific sequence involving a car and a river just ups the ante because what is going on off-screen and affecting on-screen is really well done (lower cost but well done) with no separation. "Spree" [at Sundance] tried to do this in a similar way though this is light years ahead of that with a more insane lead that really pushes it. B+
By Tim Wassberg
