D(e)ad – Review

A minuscule budget comedic romp through strange and unknown territory reflects itself to you in D(e)ad. Matilda Grover (Roland) who goes by Tillie, tries to reconcile with the fact that her father is a charlatan, grifter, thief and overall lowly human being, who to her, is a non-factor in her life anymore. While young she savored his attention and life advice, but now that her addict father Daniel (Bierko) has let her down time and time again, she is over it. While that may feel familiar, it is likely that the rest of the film feels less so.

At least Tillie is still close with her mother Francesca, who goes by Frankie (Lonow), and her sister Violet (Michaelis). Then… the family gets some news about Daniel. He has fatal tumors, and is short for this world. This leads to some initial doubt as he has lied in the past, and is a dangerous, destructive alcoholic. This puts the Grovers in a tough spot emotionally, as it is hard to know how serious to take this, and how much they all really care.

Another 8 months down the line and a few things have happened. Violet winds up knocking herself the hell up, and Daniel is missing. The family scrambles to figure out what is going on, and do finally realize how short their time with their father is. His prognosis is awful, and things won’t stretch out much longer.

Daniel lets Tillie down yet again, and exits this mortal plane. The thing is, strangely enough this isn’t the end of Daniel’s story, or interaction with his family. As Violet and Frankie reconcile with some very crazy happenings, there is a general processing of life and death, and overall relationships with (once) loved ones.

Okay, so most all of that sounded like pure life drama with all sorts of lows, but the truth is, somehow it isn’t. This film balances realistic emotion and life impacting events with quirky humor, especially when its main twist occurs. There is some heavy lifting by the comedic elements to pull this one out of a dramatic plunge into emotional depression, but the film remains fun while processing its serious thoughts on grief, trust, family, trauma, life, stress, relationships and the great beyond.

The likely very tiny budget did not impact the quality of the film, and it is well performed. The actors are serious when they need to be, exaggerated at other times, and find the right emotional range to hit both the jokes and solemn moments. I would say the comedy does outweigh most of the other elements, which is a good thing, but the character growth and lessons to be learned are still there.

Fans of the Dropout.tv streaming services will already know plenty of the actors involved in this, and likely are already well aware of this film, but give it a shot if you are into unique indie comedies.

Comparisons below aren’t 100% perfect, but concepts or vibes apply.