'My Drywall Cocoon' Review: An Aptly Named Dusty, Claustrophobic Drama [SXSW 2023]
What sounded like a promising premise about a teenaged tragedy ended up, just merely a tragedy to watch.
A mysterious death in a world of opulence and privilege always makes for an interesting concept. Agatha Christie knew that, and went back to that premise again and again. So when Brazilian writer/director Caroline Fioratti put that premise into practice once again, and mixed it with own views on this millennial generation, and the socio-economical world of her home country, ‘My Drywall Cocoon’ should undoubtedly lead to intrigue and mystery.
The story follows, Virginia (Bella Piero), a privileged teen, as she prepares for her massive 17th birthday celebration. She and her family are obviously wealthy, as are most of the people that live in her neighborhood, but we especially understand Virigina’s position as her maid and surrogate mother coddles her, all while putting out last minute preparations in her penthouse.
When the party starts, the alcohol is flowing, and drugs of course come out quickly as the large party full of affluent privileged teenagers starts to get out of hand. The next day the sun rises and the birthday girl is found lifeless. Her death shakes up the entire luxurious building complex as everyone wants to know what happened to Virginia. Patricia (Maria Luisa Mendonça), Virginia’s mother is stricken with such guilt and grief that throughout the story, her grasp on her own sanity is pushed to the limit. Virginia’s best friend, Luana (Mari Oliviera) wonders if perhaps she is guilty for the death of her best friend, as it could even be suicide. The truth is, anyone could be a murderer, or anyone at that party who was close to Virginia could have been responsible.
It becomes more and more clear throughout the film, that it is far less of a “whodunnit” in terms of the mystery of the murder. In fact, the murder is not even the most important mystery. As the audience gets to know each of the characters, especially those young teens who attended the party more and more, it becomes clear that this entire condo complex has secrets. The intrigue truly becomes about what they are hiding, and if any of those secrets are ‘deadly’.
The film’s narrative jumps back and forth from the night of the party, to the day after as piece by piece the audience gets closer to seeing what caused Virginia’s death. Fioratti does well in her direction by making the two main time periods seperate in terms of visuals and color. The party is literally rose colored, almost as if it were a fond memory, the warmth of the penthouse and the pink and gold decorations feel inviting and innocent. Cut to the cool tones of morning, where reality seems cold and unfriendly, as we see Patricia’s tear stained face as she grapples with the news of her daughter’s death.
The issue is, one half of the film does not garner the audience’s attention at all. While the party unravels, we can search for clues, we can see how abusive Virginia’s relationship is with her 'boyfriend’ Nicolas. We see how his abusive father has messed him up to the point where he and Virginia point a gun at each other during foreplay. We discover that Luana and Virginia were not all that tight - less ‘BFF’s and more ‘frenemies’. We discover that Gabriel (Daniel Botelho) is holding his own secrets, including a gun. Could any of this be the cause?
No. Simply put, the one half of the film that is interesting at all becomes repetitive and often boring. It’s more of a random collection of abused teenagers, but there is never enough time focussed on one of the specific characters to become invested in them. Are we supposed to feel bad for Virginia, her name an obvious metaphor for purity and innocence… Are we supposed to find Nicolas ‘dangerous’ or a ‘bad boy’? Are we supposed to find Gabriel’s stoicism creepy, or charming?
Without enough development, and especially without enough time getting to know Virigina, every single character rings hollow. These aren’t people an audience can fall in love with, and perhaps that’s the point. But it begs the question, what or who is the audience supposed to cheer for? So many of these spoiled kids reek of affluence and emptiness.
The other half of the story, in a sense, suffers because of that. The ‘day after’ story is not interesting at all. As so many of the characters wrestle with what happened, they truly do so through a selfish lens. It doesn’t seem as if anyone was interested in mourning for Virginia other than her mother, so again, these teens just come across as so emotionally distanced and indifferent, the audience can’t help but adopt that emotional distance with the story.
It may be something lost in translation, although the story is very straight forward, even with subtitles. Not knowing the socio-economic profile of Brazil might hinder a message that Fioratti was trying to convey, but that’s her fault as a writer. There should be something within the film that can hook anyone of any demographic, but this writer seemingly missed the point. Is the film about apathy? Is the film about the wealthy? Is it about abuse? Or a jaded, neglected generation of teens? It may have been about all of those, or none of those, truth is, it doesn’t matter. Much like the reveal of Virginia’s cause of death, it was too little too late. The message is lost, and so is the connection to any heartbeat the film may have had. The one thing that is not lost in translation is that a “Drywall Cocoon” is clearly what was supposed to happen to Virginia, as escapes the confines of her penthouse to escape. What she was escaping is yet another mystery the film buried in drawn out teenaged drama. Perhaps a more apt title would have been “Drywall Coffin”, as that inevitable fate is the lasting emotion effect the film had - dusty, claustrophobic and drawn out.