S-27

What I liked

Some really solid performances from the ensemble. The girl who plays June is the clear standout. Really decisive performance brandishing some nuanced and tactful turns. The June character is really the only role that disappears and reappears and I felt like her introduction midway through various scenes added some much needed oomph/really turned those scenes on their heads. TLDR her entrances and exits were significant tone setters, so to say, and the performance lent itself a lot to what the role needed to do. Really mindful performance.

The final scene (by far the longest scene) is a bop. Always a relief when a piece ends on its highest note, which was very obviously this scene. Good chemistry between the leads here and raises some interesting quandaries that lets the audience leave to dwell on.

The scene with the mother/daughter is very easily the most provocative. Had some serious twists and turns in such a short pocket of time. Would have loved to have more beats like what they employ in this one. Another scene with good chemistry that kept me actively engaged and honestly sort of paralyzed as I watched it unfold.

There is a brief stunt gag that involves an actually visceral physical attack that kind of rocked. It looked really good, and it came out of nowhere so it was all the more effective. Good stunt work here that made me (and some girl in my row) legitimately squirm.

What I didn't like

It feels a little long even at its short runtime. It drags in increments before recalibrating and finding its footing.

Most of the shorter scenes feature characters we never see again, which in my opinion makes them feel longer than the scenes that are actually longer featuring May and June, because we’ve had a moment to acclimate ourselves with and grow attuned to these characters.

By this virtue the lesser seen characters feel less fleshed out than the two leads and I would have maybe preferred a smaller cast with more stage time for each character. They’re not bad characters, I just don’t feel like I’ve had quality time with most of them to the point that I’m able to make an informed judgment on them. More attention to detail with them (like we get with the two leads) might have just done the trick for me.

My overall impression

Very interesting! I liked the minimalist aesthetic and how broad/vague the macro elements were. Everything was very immediate and decidedly lacked an onslaught of exposition/contextual handholding. Very decisive and choicey, which I prefer to the more tired and commoditized theater trends I feel like you usually get with this sort of fare. It was challenging at times but never grueling, unpleasant or gratuitous. Like I said, pretty interesting.