SXSW Film Review: Erupcja

Sometimes, people come into your life and sow nothing but chaos. Like a comet blazing across a dark sky, or a jet of fire spewing from the mouth of a volcano, they come in hot, leaving something in the wake of their brief but impactful presence. Erupcja, the latest film from director Pete Ohs, explores this dynamic in its snappy 71-minute runtime with creative flair and commitment from the two leads, even if it’s slight. 

Bethany (Charli xcx) and Nel (Lena Góra) are friends who have a complicated relationship. Over the past 16 years, they have discovered that anytime they meet up, a volcanic eruption happens at the same time as their reunion. They’ve taken this coincidence as a sign to live as freely as possible in the moment, even if it means blowing up their personal lives in the process. “We cheated on partners, smoked, and drank,” Nel explains later in the film. It’s as if their bond shares a chaotic, cosmic bond that no one else can understand. When Bethany returns to Warsaw with her hapless boyfriend Rob (Will Madden), she falls back into her destructive tendencies and wants to recreate the explosive dynamic she shares with Nel, even if it means going AWOL for a few days. 

When Erupcja is at its best, it evokes a mood through its aesthetics. Close-up shots of flowers, water, and train stations melt into solid blocks of color that take up the whole frame and let us get a sense of what a character is feeling, whether it’s warmth or loneliness. Similarly, our lead characters can evoke oceans of sentiment through a single choice, like Bethany’s curt answers with Rob versus her flowing poetry recitations with Nel. These moments help us get into the characters’ headspace, allowing a little more insight than the actual text of the film gives us. (The script is credited to Ohs, Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris, and the three leads.) It’s a movie about coincidences, and maybe even fate – some of the biggest themes in life, and yet there is still a lot of story left on the table.

The actual text can be quite slight, which makes sense for a film with this runtime, but can still be frustrating when trying to connect with our characters. While we get standard exposition about their past, and perhaps some slight flashbacks, there isn’t a lot of room left for us to really get a sense of how Nel and Bethany are feeling. While Charli and Góra deliver compelling performances, the finer points of their relationship are left for us to decide. I’m also not sure how much I can buy Madden’s performance as Will. Even after his girlfriend is missing for a few days and seemingly gone from the trip they planned together, he barely registers. “I’m not one for huge…explosions of feelings,” he explains to Nel at one point. Yeah, we can tell! 

Erupcja feels like it wants to evoke the rebellious and revolutionary antics and attitudes of something like Věra Chytilová’s Daisies. While the antics of Nel and Bethany, and their consequences, have a surface-level understanding of what feminine chaos can look like, it doesn’t quite match the manic effect of Chytilová’s seminal work. While the movie might have a playfully chaotic heart, it doesn’t always translate easily, making for an intriguing, if messy time at the movies.

Erupcja opens in theatres April 17.

Erupcja Festival Favorite, U.S. Premiere Find more of The Austin Chronicle’s continuing coverage of SXSW.

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