Sexual abuse isn’t a topic easily broached. It’s often relegated to cheap plot points or unearned attempts at character development. Rare is the film that honestly explores the effects of sexual trauma. Felt is that film. It’s uncompromising in its ideals and its (often difficult to digest) honesty is refreshing. Unfortunately, Felt also has a number of glaring problems.
Amy (Amy Everson) is a young woman with an extensive history of undisclosed trauma. As a way to cope with the abuse she’s experienced at the hands of men, she retreats into the woods outside of San Francisco to live as a powerful alter-ego: a man. Amy dons a modified unitard (complete with a facsimile of the male reproductive organs) that deemphasizes any of her feminine qualities, so as to move through the world as a man. Amy, quite literally, wants to reclaim the power taken from her by men. The film’s themes aren’t subtle. And that’s fine. But the film often struggles to overcome it’s forthright thesis and the characters are lost in the film’s blunt message. The film is informed by Amy’s trauma and rightfully so; but the character is completely washed out by Felt’s undercooked screenplay (or lack thereof, more on that later). There’s little character development on the page and as a result Amy becomes more of a vessel for plot momentum than a fully-realized character.
Left on mute, Felt is a gorgeous spectacle. Though I’d hesitate to describe Felt as a horror film (there’s not much traditional horror fare to be had, save for its terrifying finale), director Jason Banker is quite good at building a sense of dread and milking that tone for all it’s worth. Banker’s instinct to find haunting beauty in juxtaposition is an impressive skill, often pairing shots of unspoken tragedy with dreamy landscape shots of Amy’s forest reclusion. From the film’s opening moments, a montage of innocent children’s toys contrasted with phallic symbols, it’s clear that Banker–also the film’s cinematographer—has an assured aesthetic hand.
But alas, the characters in Felt do in fact speak and that’s where the film loses momentum and its small indiscretions become glaring faux pas. Much of the dialogue in Felt is improvised, and I’m sad to report that the majority of the actors in the film aren’t great improvisors. Prolific director Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas) has proven that improvised dialogue can be a powerful tool, but Felt is in desperate need of some structure. Much of the improvised dialogue (which is used largely in the “lighter” pats of the film) is a buffet of scatalogical jokes and juvenile snickering (the number of times the words “fart” and “butthole” are used is incalculable). It’s a difficult balance, Amy is a character with an arrested development so her character is prone to moments of childish musings, but these moments (often played for laughs) feel like the products of infantile filmmaking rather than an infantile character. And it’s especially frustrating considering there are a number of poignant moments that prove the actors and Banker are capable of intelligent dialogue. If the script for Felt were a bit tighter, not only would the characters be more actualized but I’m certain these excruciating bits of dialogue would be excised altogether.
In a zero-sum game, I’m glad Felt exists. But it is a film defined by its noble intentions and poor execution. It’s a smart film with a lot of guts, but it can’t overcome the power of its conspicuous thesis. Like a punk-rock song, Felt is brash and frank, unafraid of moments of honest brutality and aggressive beauty. But also like a punk song, Felt is almost devoid of any subtlety or subtext. Whereas a two minute punk song lends itself towards being aggressively forthright, Felt’s brash presentation of its themes (not to mention its rough-around-the-edges execution) leaves little room to flesh out the characters or any of its more nuanced themes.
Score: 5/10
Craig is a writer living in north Florida with his wife and ornery dog. He writes about film and TV. He creates and publishes comic books under the label Gentleman Baby Comics. He's currently wishing his bio sounded more engaging.