A Review of ‘Bananahead’: A mysterious, compelling journey into a troubled actress’ mind
What’s it about: An actress struggles with a scrambled reality when she enters an enchanting but frightening space.
‘Bananahead’: A mysterious, compelling journey into an actress’ mind
Cast: Sally Maersk, Ryan O’Nan, Montez Blair, Dwayne Colbert, Tara Herman, Allen Ruerkert, Britt Crisp, Sarah Grasse
Critic’s Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5
Director: Christopher Greenslate
Duration: 24 minutes
Genre: Mystery, Horror, Fantasy, Drama
Language: English
Release: 2024
What’s it about?
An actress struggles with a scrambled reality when she enters an enchanting but frightening space.
Review:
Here is an offbeat mystery/horror Short whose theme and narrative is open to interpretation and debate. While the film may appear to be muddled and confusing, it is nevertheless engrossing and beguiling in its depiction of a few troubled days (and nights) in the life of a movie actress. The audience is drawn into the “plot”, wondering what could be going on in the mind of the protagonist and whether what she is seeing is real or imagined. Bananahead also seems to explore how dangerous and frightening ambition can get.
Andi Singer arrives for an appointment to audition for a film. The director recognises her as an accomplished actress and is puzzled why she is keen on the role of the devastated Christine. Singer explains that in some bizarre way, she identifies with the character of the woman she hopes to play. It’s a “version of (herself) that’s barely out of reach” and she doesn’t want it to “disappear”. From her audition, one gets the impression that Christine is a tormented and emotionally beleaguered character who is resigned to a bleak fate.
With references to successful relatives, it appears that Singer wants to escape living in their shadow and strike out as an actress in her own right. Recently, she and her boyfriend Lincoln have moved into her late grandmother’s house, where she comes across the key to a mysterious room. This space is beautifully decorated and appears to be vibrant and alive, with dazzling items from another era. Singer revels in the nightly visits to this magical interior, which stands in contrast to her humdrum daily life... where all is not going to script. Or is it?
Is Singer suffering from the stress of playing (or imagining to play) various characters and is she being mentally consumed by the experience of her performances? Bananahead is consistently enigmatic and surreal, almost in the same vein as the celluloid offerings of Michelangelo Antonioni and David Lynch films. Yes, film buffs might find traces of such classic films as Blow Up (1966) and Mulholland Drive (2001) and there are even shades of the lauded film noir A Double Life (1947). A lot of the explanation is left up to the viewer to decode, though some might get frustrated at trying to do so.
Still, writer-director Christopher Greenslate marshals his cast and crew admirably while keeping the viewer engaged. There is a commendable quality to his approach which eschews cheap shocks for attractive subtlety. This in turn, is complemented by Maersk’s sterling performance. Meanwhile, the camera-work is a study in effective minimalism and the background music adequately captures the mood of each scene. Recurring motifs and dialogue in different milieus add to the dreamlike veneer of the film. All in all, even though logic goes out the window and pretentiousness takes centre stage, Bananahead makes for a decent viewing experience.
