A series of love stories run wild, and as a bunch of young adults try to find their way in the world, they will quickly realize that life comes at you fast. Sweethurt sees these young individuals attempting to navigate the hardships of their past, present, and future relationships–and as they journey through the seemingly never-ending dark, their stories will overlap, becoming one obstacle after another.
The intention of Sweethurt appears to be to show the world that regardless of the situation, the person, etc., the world is a predictably linear place in which hardship falls on all of us at some point in time. With a series of different stories sort of becoming one by the end of the film, it seems clear that this was the path that Writer-Director Tom Danger and Co-Writer Logan Webster intended to follow. To a degree this comes to fruition, and viewers are able to see bits and pieces of their own lives strewn throughout Sweethurt, but the scenarios depicted on screen aren’t powerful enough to really drive these sentiments home. There are mere moments in which I was able to feel emotion–and that comes as a result of a series of different things, including the fractured nature of the film as a whole.
The story is incredibly fractured, never really finding its way or remaining on a path that makes any sense. Again, it seems that this team wanted the film to remain on a linear trajectory, one that introduces many stories, but manages to see them converge into one–but that never comes to be. Sweethurt ultimately flails all over the place from beginning to end, never really being able to convey anything tangible or accessible. Even though emotion comes through on occasion, the massive gaps in between hinder the film’s ability to remain whole or effective.
For all intents and purposes, Sweethurt fails to reach viewers, and it doesn’t do a sound enough job of presenting emotions to viewers in a way that allows them to connect with the characters. The characters ultimately fall through the cracks, never really amounting to anything. I wanted to feel something, I wanted to connect with the characters as they struggled through some pretty typical things–but I couldn’t ever manage to bridge the gap that existed.
The one thing that manages to raise the quality of the film is the soundtrack. It doesn’t do much to evoke emotion or to propel the stories forward–but rather it’s just a lot of fun. Including songs such as Loves Me So by State Line Syndicate and Body Talks by The Struts, this soundtrack is incredibly fun, making it the one thing that kept me engaged throughout. It’s honestly not enough to save the film, but it does come close–and that is impressive.
Sweethurt tries too hard to be coincidental, it tries too hard to develop far too many storylines that would eventually intertwine–but the things that it wants to be elude its grasp throughout the entirety of the film. Sweethurt can’t find its footing, and a series of challenges arise as a result, challenges that it seems this team is incapable of overcoming. Sure, there are moments of clarity throughout that manage to keep the film afloat from time to time, and the soundtrack is stellar–but these things aren’t enough to save the film unfortunately. Sweethurt certainly isn’t a bad film, and it has good ideas present throughout–but I’m not sure it will be able to appropriately reach viewers.
Directed by Tom Danger.
Written by Tom Danger & Logan Webster.
Starring Rav Ratnayake, Tyra Cartledge, Rhiaan Marquez, Mehdy Salameh, Logan Webster, Sam Germain, Dylan Lee, Alannah Robertson, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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