Don't Ever Change
2017 · 10m · USA
Directed by Don Swaynos
Tones: absurdist, dark, darkly comic
After serving a 45-year prison sentence, Karen is finally reunited with her now-grown daughter, but their tense reconciliation is interrupted by an unexpected guest with a very unusual request.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A murderer gets a fan letter and decides to meet her prison pen-pal — it is every true crime podcast's secret romantic subplot, finally made explicit, with consequences.
Swaynos writes serial-killer fandom as domestic comedy and it lands — the film knows exactly how uncomfortable it wants you to feel, and it holds that line for exactly as long as it needs to.
Swaynos approaches true-crime fandom from the killer's POV, finding black comedy in the celebrity-infamy blur — Vimeo Staff Pick territory with a properly transgressive premise. Short of the Week catnip.
Festivals
- Overlook Film Festival 2017
- Fantasia International Film Festival 2017