MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Amy Seimetz
FilmPulse Score: 7/10
Amy Seimetz is an emerging actress, one that is experiencing a great deal of critical praise (Upstream Color) that has also led to some significant work, most notably Christopher Guest’s new TV series Family Tree. Seimetz is, what they call, an ‘Indie Darling’; so now seems like the perfect time to release her debut feature film Sun Don’t Shine. Which has also garnered some critical acclaim and accolades since premiering at SXSW in 2012, in which Seimetz won the Chicken & Egg Emergent Award. I’m going to have to be honest and say that all of the admiration and acclaim are well deserved.
Sun Don’t Shine is a fairly straight-forward, bare-bones narrative about a young couple on a road trip through Florida. Kate Lyn Sheil plays Crystal, an emotionally damaged woman with a malignant past and her exacerbated boyfriend, Leo, who is played by Kentucker Audley. The film starts out with an exhausting fight between Crystal and Leo somewhere in the muddy back roads of Florida. Slapping, pushing and strangling (maybe) one another, the viewer is introduced to this young couple in a moment of ugliness, letting the audience know, right from the start, that these are unstable people in an unstable relationship currently in the midst of trying to accomplish a criminal task with an unstable plan.
The most unstable of two, arguably, has to be that of Crystal and Sheil incorporates that instability into her performance. Not to say that she gives an unsatisfactory performance, but often times Sheil does take the emotions a touch too far. One moment Sheil is effectively portraying a needy, emotionally disturbed young woman and the next, while trying to deliver more subdued dialogue, her inexperience reveals itself. She does, however, carry the majority of the film and, for the most part, does so effectively. The talent is there and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kate Lyn Sheil’s career take the same trajectory as Seimetz given the right roles (much like this one).
Kentucker Audley does a commendable job of portraying the irritated lover, thrust into a situation he had no control over while trying his best to rectify it. This task is not made any easier by Crystal’s almost manic state; one moment he has to fend off an attack and then turnaround and console her damaged feelings. Although, Leo is not an angel himself, by any stretch of the imagination; he’s prone to fits of violence, manipulation and brooding as much as Crystal. In short…these two are no good for each other.
Sun Don’t Shine is filled with your typical Indie stylings cinematography-wise, while also incorporating an abundance of voice-over dialogue between Crystal and Leo, but Seimetz does, however, show some promise in these areas. Using, almost exclusively, close-up, hand-held camerawork Seimetz puts the viewer directly into Crystal and Leo’s dubious relationship and deplorable activities to the point of direst. The details behind the couple’s excursion are slowly revealed, with bits and pieces, perfectly throughout the film giving the story a deliriously enigmatic feel; which is fitting, in a way, for a film set in Florida.
Seimetz has proven herself to be a more than capable actress, most recently in Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color where she delivers an amazing performance, but now she has also shown the world she is a capable filmmaker. While her debut is far from perfect, it definitely shows that she has a talent for captivating storytelling and an ability to unnerve viewers with disturbing images and characters. Hopefully her recent success in landing notable acting roles does not keep her from behind the camera for too long.
