Wild Card
2022 · 13m · USA
Directed by Tipper Newton
Genres: crime, dark comedy, mystery, thriller
Tones: darkly comic, humorous, surreal
A lonely, mild-mannered man and a confident femme fatale are matched by a retro video dating service, but their awkward first date takes a dark turn when mysterious VHS tapes and threatening answering machine messages surface in her apartment.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Retro 'Videomate' dating service, 16mm Kodak 500T, leopard print, Brian De Palma cosplay. The pastiche commitment level is exactly what this kind of thing needs.
Newton's 80s neo-noir pastiche — 16mm, video dating, leopard print — is genre as formal love letter, in the De Palma-adjacent register of contemporary stylists like Anna Biller. The execution will determine whether style transcends its own affection.
Shot on 16mm 7219 500T Kodak — that's the right film stock for period-precise 80s neon and the leopard-print/VHS texture, and the video-dating-service conceit is built for visual play. At 12:28 the dark turn has runway.
Reviews
Writer/director Newton's filmmaking is unique because it cheekily reinstates tried and true film tactics of the 80s, while maintaining a contemporary quality. This formula is masterful yet playful and flirty.
Wild Card gets exciting right when it ends, right at the moment that it has been teasing... I loved it and it got me — so please, give us that second date.
Festivals
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2022, Jury Award
- Fantasia International Film Festival 2022
- Fantastic Fest 2022
- Chattanooga Film Festival 2022
- Beyond Fest 2022