‘Earwig’ Review: A Fantastical Horror Story With Nothing To Say [TIFF 2021]
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s fantastical gothic horror has nothing interesting to say that justifies an almost two-hour runtime.
The premise for Lucile Hadžihalilović’s ‘Earwig’ is quite simple. It tells the story of Albert Scellnic (Paul Hilton), who takes care of a young girl with ice cube dentures that act as her teeth. As the days and routines go by, the telephone suddenly rings and tells Scellnic to prepare the girl for the outside world, as a mysterious clinic will finally raise her and possibly give her real teeth. The basis of an interesting short film is there, but not a nearly two-hour film in which characters constantly mope around and do practically nothing to advance the plot or develop its characters and world. As a result, Earwig may very well be the most interminable film of the entire Toronto International Film Festival and one of the most disappointing films of the year.
It’s ultimately disappointing because the premise is certainly original and interesting; A girl with ice cubes for teeth. That sentence alone should entice body horror fans for something truly unsettling. The vibe is there, particularly when Scellnic changes the girl’s dentures during the opening scene. Her “retainer,” which collects her saliva, is used to craft the ice cube teeth, to which Scellnic freezes every time he needs to change her teeth. The atmosphere Hadžihalilović creates here with these sequences are the only ones worth watching and would absolutely make for a terrific short film. Instead, everything else about the film becomes bothersome once Scellnic receives the phone call to "teach" the girl how to behave outside. It starts as a body horror film, only to turn into some fantastical coming-of-age story, and it would've absolutely worked if it had anything meaningful to say. One of the film's main flaws is that it's practically wordless, yet a journey like Scellnic needs to go through should be expressed with words.
Hadžihalilović seemingly couldn’t get anything out of the actors, there was such a severe lack of emoting, as the actors are as emotionless as they come. Hilton feels terribly inexperienced here as Scellnic. The film sets him up as a fundamental character better and shrouds him in mystery. A scene in which someone talks about his past at a bar should make audiences weary of who Scellnic is, but Hadžihalilović never gives the audience the pleasure of accessing his psyche. Instead, the film is stuck with two uninteresting characters who make up most of the runtime.
Simplifying a critique of a film to “it’s boring… nothing happens” is often just that… an unjust oversimplification. However, these films can exist. No development, no progress, no change in character or resolution in the end. In these rare occurrences when nothing actually happens, we fortunately can focus on the positive aspects of the film as they seem to stick out more. Earwig is really great at establishing an unnerving atmosphere through its opening sequence. If it ended there, then it might have been a pretty damn good short film, but the film insists on being anything else than the body horror film it should be, and continues on and on to the point where audiences can't even imagine an actual resolution. When the phone call happens, the plot is set in motion; Scellnic must now teach the girl how to live in society before he takes her to the clinic. Great. But Hadžihalilović stays in the same cyclical patterns, rooms, and character beats, instead of evolving their relationship into something greater, and all you desperately want is something, something to happen. A change in their routine, à la Jeanne Dielman, could've exposed the director's entire project and finally paid off what we've all been watching.
But there is no pay off. In fact, the film has practically nothing to offer aside from a few randomly gory sequences that are taken straight out of another type of film altogether. None of the set up clicks in the end, and Earwig only feels like precious time has been wasted. The movie does reveal something at the end, but it absolutely did not deserve to be two hours of continuous repetition for...nothing. A great premise poorly executed, and an absolute shame for fans of gothic horror, or coming-of-age tales. (Though it isn’t even accurate to qualify Earwig in one of these two categories as the film meanders so much). Truth be told, Earwig can't be qualified in any category or genre of film. It's beyond any conceivable, or classifiable genre, as it will not reach anyone who's looking for thoughtful cinema, or something truly original.