SEW TORN was pretty quickly on my list of movies to see when making my schedule at this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV. It was nearly an 11pm screening at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar location. There is also a home city connection here with the movie! Actor Calum Worthy (BODIED) is from my home town of Victoria BC, where we worked together to bring his movie BODIED to Victoria to which his parents and family all showed up.
ABOUT: Barbara Duggen, ‘The Mobile Seamstress’, is struggling to keep her fabric shop alive. After a botched sewing appointment sets her on a quest to replace her client’s lost button, she unexpectedly stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad. Faced with two downed motorcyclists, guns, and a briefcase – Barbara is completely torn. She is forced to pick between three choices: commit the perfect crime, call the police, or drive away.
The narrative presents the repercussions of all three decisions, and the deadly confrontations that result from each as she gets entangled with the case’s owner. Using thread to free herself, Barbara stops at nothing to save her store.
Jason’s Reaction: An entire love letter to Switzerland and everything about it, SEW TORN has a little bit of everything and everyone in the movie, in this really unique picture that has some light genre elements involving gangsters who have to deal with someone who just loves her yarn a little bit too much (I have another “Yarn” joke in here somewhere). The entire cast here all works well off of each other, but the real movie star is Eve Connolly with her deeply expressive eyes and face. This uses sewing in such an original way with filmmaker Freddy MacDonald really having an eye for detail, editing and overall camera composition that makes him a real talent to watch in the future. Watch out for a sequence involving yarn, needlepoint and a pistol that drew cheers at the screening that I attended. Mention must also be given to Sebastian Klinger who not only did the cinematography but also all of the visual effects and even served as one of the producers, along with a face that I saw all over SxSW this year also watching tons of movies just like me. SEW TORN is still an acquisition title but I certainly hope it finds a wide release down the road.
