From Omeleto.
A woman dates a movie star.
ICARUS is used with permission from Natalie Schwan. Learn more at https://natalieschwan.com.
Emily has just moved to Los Angeles, and to her amazement, she’s now dating a charismatic movie star named Harris. He’s attentive, sexy and seems intoxicated with Emily, and Emily loves being with him, living the fantasy of the special chosen paramour of a Hollywood icon.
But right after Emily and Harris have been intimate, she also discovers that a media storm has erupted, with serious allegations against Harris. Torn between the intoxication of romance, the fantasy of Hollywood and her growing doubt, Emily finds herself fascinated and trapped between her attraction and her fear.
Directed by Natalie Schwan and written by Nell Lawson, this compelling, seductive short drama is a taut psychological thriller that builds an initial atmosphere of seduction, intrigue and romance only to slowly alchemize it into one that seethes with the seamy underbelly of Hollywood. Essentially a two-hander that takes place in one location, the film feels much bigger than a typical chamber drama, with its ambitious themes, intelligent and sly writing and well-pitched performances.
The film has a leisurely, sensual beginning, as two lovers lounge in bed. But tense details emerge about the characters and the background, transforming an intimate bubble into what Emily worries is a trap. That transformation is handled with judicious pacing, with information carefully placed for growing suspense and tension. As Emily and Harris, actors Malin Barr and Ali Badalov both have a powerful chemistry, as well as precision and restraint that suit the sophistication of the narrative. Emily’s arc finds herself concealing her growing fear and alarm as she figures out how to extract herself; Harris’s charmingly sexy surface slowly disintegrates into controlling manipulation and monstrous self-centeredness, until there’s nothing to see but a void of emotional darkness.
ICARUS is reminiscent of the great erotic thrillers of the ’80s and ’90s, such as 9 1/2 WEEKS or FATAL ATTRACTION. Those films used dark but glamorous cinematic gloss to conjure bewitching stories that sat at the intersection of sex and power, and ICARUS treads similar terrain here, keeping the sensuous shadowy sheen in the cinematography but updating it with contemporary concerns and topicality. But the overall dramatic dynamic is the same and still just as hypnotic as ever: someone is drawn into an alluring fantasy, only to uncover the corruption underneath the glittering surface. It’s the arc that guides great Hollywood thrillers; it’s also the journey that’s lived by countless people dealing with narcissists and sociopaths. Even in the short format, the film provokes questions about the dream factory of movie-making and the hidden malignancies of its most powerful.
