Sketchisa wonderfully creative fantasy adventure that uses kooky and disturbing monstersto illustrate a family’s inability to process grief. Writer/director Seth Worley crafts a remarkable feature debut that artfully blends darkness and heart with a thoughtful lesson: Losing a cherished loved one is a devastating experience, but especially difficult for children when adults and authority figures don’t address the issue. Their hope of avoiding further pain exacerbates the crisis, which leads to anger, resentment, and most destructively, blame for what’s happened. We can’t bury our feelings, but must face them head on to truly come to terms with sorrow.
The story begins with Amber Wyatt (Bianca Belle) on the bus to school. Another student, Bowman (Kalon Cox), who regularly teases Amber, grabs her drawing and is stunned by its graphic contents. Later that day, her father,Taylor (Tony Hale), attends a conference with a counselor (Nadia Benavides) where Amber readily admits she drew a creature stabbing Bowman and him profusely bleeding. Taylor’s horrified, but the counselor has a different perspective. She knows that Amber didn’t really want to hurt Bowman, so she gives the girl a new sketchbook and encourages her to keep expressing herself.
Monster Grief
After school, Jack (Kue Lawrence), Amber’s older brother, falls down and cuts his hand in the woods behind their rural house. Even worse,his phone brokewhen it fell into a murky pond. He returns home for dinner, where Taylor and Amber recount what happened at school. Taylor has taken down every picture of the kids' deceased mother (Allie McCulloch), and everyone gets upset when a simple argument escalates to shattering one of mom’s plates. Amber continues to draw upsetting pictures in her room, while Jack also stews. But he soon realizes that his hand has healed, and the phone is now brand new. How can they both be fixed? Jack remembers that he put his hand in the water to retrieve the phone, and decides to test the plate to confirm his suspicions.
Worley, known for his commercials and award-winning short films, doesa banner job of first-act exposition. The Wyatts are in mourning, and everyone is handling death in their own way. Taylor’s decision to remove every picture of their mother and just not speak of her has made the situation worse. He’s also selling the house with the help of his sisterLiz (D’Arcy Carden), a real estate broker. These moves further divide Taylor from his children; they think he’s running away, and they’re correct. The stage is now set for Amber’s sketchbook to end up in that magical pond, unleashing her monstrous frustrations on the hapless town.
A Dramatic Tony Hale
Sketch’smonsters are weird, googly-eyed and childishly freaky. They aren’t elaborately detailed, because they were drawn by an elementary-aged girl. They’re never too scary to frighten younger audiences, but are legitimate threats out to do harm. Worley balances their danger with simple and straightforward weaknesses: Bug monsters can be squashed. Water destroys everything, because the monsters are made of ink; that means that kids armed with Super Soaker water guns and hoses are primed for battle. The creatures are also extremely colorful and spew sparkles when roaring in pursuit. It’s clever work by the production designers that mitigates terror to the right level for family-friendly viewing.
The score by Cody Fry,a Grammy-nominated formerAmerican Idolcontestant, is also key to fueling the film’s tension. Fry employs horror genre arrangements, such as harsh strings, creepy pianos and discordant noises to keep the narrative on edge. Otherwise, the monsters might not be menacing enough to keep the fear factor credible. Fry’s music fits Worley’s script perfectly, elevating the plot in pivotal moments.Sketchwouldn’t be nearly as effective without it.
The child actors have significant screen time as the primary protagonists. Their relationship dynamics are well-written and acted with a focus on wholesome bonding; Amber and Jack bicker as siblings, but defend each other against all attackers. Jack doesn’t allow anyone to mock or criticize his sister, and understands why she’s lashing out. Jack also desperately misses their mother, but has channeled his anguish in a different way. This leads to a fascinating plot development that Worley smartly embraces. The pond’s powers are a tempting lure for fixing the past.Sketchdoesn’t stray intoPet Semataryterritory,but does confront that possibility in a deeply moving scene.
Dave’s Loose
Hale (Arrested Development, Stranger Than Fiction, Veep)andCarden (Broad City, The Good Place, Barry)are experienced comedians with extensive Hollywood credits. They display their dramatic chops here with laudable nuance. Liz prods Taylor to say his wife’s name out loud, arguing that Amber’s drawings and the monster hunt are a direct result of his misgivings. He can’t hide that she’s gone. Her presence permeates everything he treasures. Taylor must come to terms with the sad truth for his children’s sake. Coping can seem like an impossible hurdle, but it can be accomplished through perseverance and unity.
Sketchspeeds along in a brisk 90 minutes with several important questions left unanswered. The biggest is that the pondremains mysterious as a magical toolwithout any explanatory exposition. That’s a tad disappointing, given its purpose, but Worley sticks to his overall themes and doesn’t deviate. Maybe a sequel is in order to shed further light on the wishing well.
Sketchis a Morphan Time production. It will be released theatrically on August 6th from Angel Studios.
