SXSW 2024 Sew Torn Review- Charming And Clever Adult Fairy Tale With A Star-Making Performance From Eve Connolly

Directors and writers can make magic before egos and studio executives get in the way. When unique voices and clear visions collide, genius can feel like fantasy. Freddy Macdonald’s whimsical and wild Sew Torn is an adult fairy tale mixed with Happy Death Day, Saw, and a hint of American Gods Season 1. It is creative, refreshing, and unexpected and features a superb ensemble cast. Macdonald may be young, but he is the real deal, and Sew Torn is proof. It is a lovely piece of storytelling that casts a spell from beginning to end.

Barbara(Eve Connolly) leads a solitary and somewhat depressing life as a mobile seamstress in her small town, where everyone knows her and knew her mother, from whom she inherited the business. One day, while dealing with a particularly unpleasant client, Barbara snaps and acts out in a tiny way that has massive implications. That single minuscule decision sets off a chain reaction of events that end poorly for poor Babs no matter what decision she makes. Having to return to her shop to replace a button for a shrill bride-to-be, she drives right into a drug deal gone bad. Now, no matter what she does, she can’t escape trouble. It finds her if she takes the money, drives away, or calls the police.

If you have ever wondered what would happen if you did or didn’t do this thing, you aren’t alone. Macdonald deftly gives us each alternative and shows that when fate intervenes, it doesn’t really matter which choice we make. This situation is an extension of Barbara’s whole life. She has been pinned in by expectations, and even with her mother gone, she is still stuck. She is lonely, grieving, and losing a business she isn’t sure she wants. The drug deal is just one more in a long string of things that confine Barbara. Sew Torn shows that sometimes we must choose the lesser of two evils because there isn’t a good choice.

The repetitive nature could be tiring after a while, but Macdonald manages to forge new, surprising ground each time, weaving together a tapestry of colorful characters and solutions to Barbara’s plight until everything goes wrong. Taking the best parts from his short that inspired the feature-length film Sew Torn tugs on one thread after another, letting us see how each new action sets off a chain reaction of mostly terrible things. The hows of each new attempt, coupled with Barbara’s indomitable spirit to survive, make this so successful. Each of her tries comes with a thrilling new Rube Goldberg contraption of sorts, and each one simultaneously feels fantastical and utterly realistic. It really is a testament to Macdonald who devised the devices and shot them in such a believable way.

Tonally, Sew Torn is enchanting. A heartbreaking and unsettling opening sequence introduces us to Barbara, who is struggling and keeps pieces of her dead mother’s spirit with her in hand-sewn patches and voice recordings. It is equal parts sweet and a little creepy. She is alone, meek, and maybe a tad bit troubled. Connolly exudes barely controlled emotion and lets us ride along with her time after time, heavily invested in her plight. As wonderful as all the action sequences are, it is her emotional journey that makes Sew Torn so great. We genuinely care for her which makes each failed attempt at escape that much more heartbreaking.

You are engrossed in Barabara’s world from the very beginning. The compliment of quirky side characters only serves to round out the picture and keep you in a suspended place of heightened animation. Babs is in danger, and yet, just like her, we really think, try after try, she will find a way out. She seems that resourceful and her creations are so smartly simple in execution you can’t help but admire them. It doesn’t hurt that Eve Connolly is fantastic. She is undoubtedly a star, and Macdonald was lucky to cast her. She captures all of Barbara’s grief, desperation, hopefulness, and occasional spite.

The centerpiece of the entire film is a spectacular pub sequence that lets the best of Macdonald’s vision mix with a raw performance from Connolly. Her wildly emotional dance in a tense pub scene is subterfuge for an amazing trick that snaps into place at the exact right time, filling you with wonder, hope for Babs, and a sick sense of glee that maybe this time she will succeed in turning the tables. How and why this is all happening to Barbara is less important than her reactions to it. It’s the basic betrayal and disappointed father stuff that make up most crime thrillers. It isn’t that John Lynch(The Terror) and Calum Worthy(American Vandal) are not good as criminals because they each are great, but Barbara is the center patch in this quilt, and her journey is what matters most.

Although each time Barbara falls down the rabbit hole, she is unaware of the last, there is a pervading sense of exasperation that Connolly manages to capture that makes you feel as if somewhere in her soul, she knows she has done this dance before with the same unfortunate results. The solution is deceptively simple and remarkably free from judgment due to Connolly’s extraordinary ability to just let go. Like the film as a whole, it is deceptively straightforward yet complex and layered. Sometimes, the right decisions are the easiest, even if we think they are the hardest.

The ending is both unexpected and achingly perfect. Films like this sometimes struggle to maintain momentum. What felt clever for two-thirds of the film can feel like a manipulative gimmick by the final act. If the solution is predictable, it can be frustrating as well. Conversely, not providing a way out, whether she takes it or not, for a character like Barbara is not a viable option either. Macdonald’s solution is so flawless that it resonates on a life philosophy level that is rewarding and satisfying. Sew Torn is about the charming journey as much as the inevitable end.

Sew Torn had its premiere at SXSW 2024 and is awaiting distribution. Find all our SXSW coverage here.