An experimental movie with a great Twilight Zone synopsis, “She Dies Tomorrow” comes at us with the question: What if the mere mention of death was contagious, like a cold?
But does the movie itself work?
Advertised as a dark comedy about a woman (Kate Lyn Shel) who believes with all of her being that she is going to die tomorrow, it sounds like it should work. Sad to say, it doesn’t work as much more than a mood piece. Think “Melancholia”, just not as profound (and that’s saying a lot).
Is it funny? Sure. There’s ONE section of awkward comedy which is done well. But again, as intriguing as the concept is, even with a short runtime of only an hour and twenty-five minutes, it’s simply too long. And due to some definitive visual choices made by writer/director, Amy Seimetz, it’s too incoherent.
These visual choices translate into large pockets of meandering, which seem only to exist in this film for the sake of having extended sequences ripe with multi-colored filters. This aspect, while technically sound (I guess) happen repeatedly, adds nothing to the story, while also giving audiences zero hope that in the end “She Dies Tomorrow” will be anything more than a concept in its first draft.
The performances from the likes of Jane Adams (Happiness), Chris Messina (Devil) and Katie Aselton (The League) are good. In fact, they are damn good considering the emotions asked of all characters throughout only range from dreary to sullen.
Final Thought: Seeing “She Dies Tomorrow” as an allegory for anxiety, relating to the idea of one spiraling into an anxiety attack as a speck of dread grows into a monster, makes this film a bit more digestible. But watching the movie, it’s hard not to realize that there’s just too much added ponderous nonsense injected to be watchable.
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