Undercut
2019 · 14m · USA
Directed by Kelly Pike
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Freshman field hockey player Emmie returns to practice in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault, navigating the silence and complicity of her teammates as she struggles between speaking out and conforming to the culture of being a "team player."
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Field hockey freshman returns to practice after assault — no perpetrator shown, all team-dynamic silence. Disciplined point-of-view choice, but at this point the genre's gravitational pull is hard to escape.
Pike never depicts the assault or perpetrator — keeping the entire story inside the survivor's POV and the team's social dynamics, shot with a real field hockey team. A formal discipline that distinguishes serious from sensational.
Never depicting the assault or the perpetrator and keeping everything inside the survivor's POV plus the social-team dynamics — shot with a real field hockey team. That refusal-of-spectacle discipline is the right craft for the subject. Jasmin Savoy Brown in the cast is solid.
Reviews
Incredibly nuanced, Undercut is a slow-burn drama that will shake you out of your complacency and reframe the conversation surrounding sexual assault survivors.
A powerful account of an all too familiar issue, Undercut is a film that is an especially important story, captured with empathy.
Festivals
- Austin Film Festival 2022, Jury Award
- SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2022, Jury Award
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2020
- Nantucket Film Festival
- Woodstock Film Festival
- Denver Film Festival
- Galway Film Fleadh
- American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes Film Festival 2022
- Tacoma Film Festival, Audience Award
- Vail Film Festival, Jury Award
- Santa Fe Film Festival 2022, Jury Award
- Anchorage International Film Festival, Jury Award
- LA Shorts International Film Festival
- Ojai Film Festival, Jury Award