Sew Torn (2024)
a review by Evan Landon
What a taught thriller!
I found myself watching Sew Torn at a very weird place in my life. I won't get too far into it, but most of what this movie portrays itself as is an ethical tale about discovering new paths in our own livelihoods, no matter what conditioning or set backs one could imagine. The things we consider core to our truths outweigh not even the actions of others, but ourselves, too. At the center of every story, accountability is probably the most overall trait to any success, but what clearer stance do you need when writing a thriller? You can only do so much with whatever resources you have to create the story and timeline that is warranted for such a vehicle. This one chose thread.
The premise of Sew Torn is an incredibly simple one: a young woman, Barbara Duggen, is plagued by memories of her overbearing mother and inherits her sewing business that ain't doing too well. That would be okay, if she wasn't constantly reminded, through makeshift patches with her mother's voice, that her only job is to keep the sewing business alive. An old woman from town tasks her to sew a button on her wedding dress, but she loses it down a vent, so she has to go get another one. What ensues is a series of possibilities where she uses her sewing skills to survive two random motorists killing each other over a case of money.
The movie breaks itself into three individual stories that are all uniquely tied together.
Perfect Crime – In this first iteration, Barbara takes the case with all of the money in it. Through a series of her stringing elaborate designs together between the two motorists, she is able to give both of the guns back to their rightful owners for them to kill each other. Problems occur when one refuses to perish, leading to a string of incidents that leaves many dead along the wake.
Call Police - In this second iteration, Barbara takes the case with all of the money in it. Much like the first time, Barbara is intent on keeping the case full of money, except this time she chooses to call the police. The problem is that the sole police officer is also the judge, sheriff, and magistrate of the town and has no time for her bullshit. The only problem is that now everyone involved is being hunted by the owner of the case, one of whom being the owner's son.
Drive Away - In this third iteration, Barbara decides NOT to take the case with all of the money in it, but they find her anyways. Merely following her to the next stop, the owner of the case wanted his son to follow in his footsteps by making the money drop, but the son has no interest in doing so. Through a series of very subtle actions, Barbara attempts to free herself and the son with her insane sewing skills.
What makes this movie work is how it seamlessly threads every moment and action that obscures the thought of fate and inevitability. Fairly unknown actress Eve Connelly does a fantastic job carrying the film and veteran actor John Lynch always pulls off a menacing performance as the man hunting the case full of money down. With an indie movie like this, the acting needs to be as good as the words that are written in the script and this one does it almost flawlessly.
Blending an entire wealth of avant garde surrealism, Sew Torn is a wonderfully told yarn of madness. In fact, Freddy Macdonald wrote this with his father, Fred Macdonald, who ran the production company “Olive Jar Studios” through commercials, music videos, and advertisements after Freddy made an award-winning short of this film that caught the eye of one of the Coen brothers. Things start off like a lost episode of Twin Peaks and you wouldn't be too surprised to imagine that because of the amazing score by Jacob Tardien constantly reminding you what sort of weird shit you are watching.
These are the kinds of movies that should be made, not nostalgia-bait regurgitated bullshit. Not every success needs to be a franchise. This is a fine example of that, but I don't foresee that happening with this gem and that's a good thing. Plus, you get a ton of unnecessary sewing puns when anyone discusses it.
“The mobile seamstress, suddenly not so mobile. .”
4.5 Out Of 5