MIFF 2022 Film Review - Bodies Bodies Bodies

Images courtesy of the Melbourne International Film Festival and A24.

Bodies Bodies Bodies is one of those rare films that you instantly can tell, upon a first viewing, has staying power. This film will undoubtedly endure through the annals of time as a perfect time-capsule of the Gen Z era, much in the way Scream now exists as an effortlessly cool capturing of all things 90’s. Preserving a specific moment in time is not all this film shares with the classic Wes Carpenter franchise, however. What Bodies Bodies Bodies was, perhaps more impressively able to do, was engage in Gen Z social mores, ideology and witticisms in a thoughtful way that was actually interested in prying the psychology of these terms and phrases apart, to reveal a greater social commentary. In a sea of Netflix shows that rely on name dropping TikTok stars in a desperate bid to appear culturally relevant and ‘tapped in’ to the current zeitgeist, director Halina Reijn in tandem with screenwriter Kristen Roupenian’s (of Cat Person fame) hilariously quippy script are able to come up with a film that is the first of its kind in being able to couple what’s trendy in 2022 with genuine insight. 

The freshness of this film completely comes from its incredible ensemble cast, as the film’s premise is absolutely one we have seen before – a classic whodunnit. The film follows a group of highly privileged, constantly slightly irritated group of wealthy teens who have decided to throw a ‘hurricane party’ as they wait out the oncoming mega-storm. Tensions simmer amongst the group as we glean snippets of grudges and past wrongdoings the group has committed against one another, but the party eventually comes under way and reaches the typical drug and alcohol fuelled standards of debauchery that we have now come to expect from teen-based media. The hellishness of the night begins however when the group plays the titular game bodies bodies bodies.-essentially murder in the dark- a game where a “killer” is assigned, and the rest of the group must avoid being killed and work together to figure out the killer’s identity. This game however, merely acts as a catalyst or red herring if you will, for the film to begin its larger, and much more interesting, social commentary. The game is not important, rather the truths and revelations it teases out are. 

This sleek cast of seven allows for an element of character development that is rarely seen within the horror genre and plays perfectly into the film’s larger themes of privilege and how an increased social awareness is now beginning to slowly change our larger perception of what privilege means, as well as the ways in which we view those that have it. Often relegated to secondary status as the ‘bully’, ‘jock’, or ‘popular girl’ character in most teen-based shows, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies plants us squarely within the world of the privileged, attractive and seemingly carefree “it-crowd”, and shows them to be the morally corrupt and shallow class of people we secretly judge them to be. When the first murder of the night occurs, suddenly whipping this gathering from fun and rambunctious to genuinely horrifying, it is but a mere matter of minutes before the whole group of so-called “besties”  turns on each other and uses what dirt they have on one another to take the blame off of themselves. Legitimate-turned psycho-babble internet terms like “gaslighting” and “narcissist” are spat around, their true nature revealed, as showy words that illicit a knee-jerk reaction, but have ultimately become devoid of meaning due to their over-saturation in mainstream media spaces. 

This point could be extrapolated to encapsulate the entire ethos of the film, revealing the hidden truths hiding under flashy facades. Each character, whilst on the surface embodying a lifestyle that in the past may have been viewed as entirely desirable, is in actuality revealed to have something of a rotted core, filled with anxieties about ‘keeping up appearances’, lies, cheating, and ultimately a morally bankrupt personal dogma. It is revealed that what is more important is being in this group of wealthy few, and accepted as one of them, rather than forging genuine relationships and friendships. What keeps this film from being just another  heady, self-righteous takedown of the rich elite, however, is its humour and affinity for all things ridiculous. Their likeability, ditziness and outrageous statements, particularly those of Alice (Rachel Sennott of Shiva Baby)- the obvious standout performance- keep you from wanting to crack these out of touch characters over the head with a kettlebell. Overall, Bodies Bodies Bodies should be referred to as the golden standard for films in the future wanting to strike the perfect balance of social commentary and top tier comedy.

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Bodies Bodies Bodies screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, running in cinemas August 4-21 and online August 11-28, and comes to Australian cinemas on Thursday September 15.

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