'Sew Torn' unspools a delicious thriller plot
Writer-director Freddy MacDonald makes a crafty Coen-esque debut.
If the Coen Brothers had spent a summer working behind the counter at Joann Fabrics when they were teenagers, the result might be “Sew Torn.”
In writer-director Freddy MacDonald’s stylish and witty debut, a resourceful seamstress finds that her sewing box may be her superpower in outwitting gangsters and attempting to steal a suitcase full of cash. With its unconventional narrative structure, clever action staging and black humor, “Sew Torn” threads the needle between thriller and comedy.
Barbara (Eve Connolly) is a young woman trying to keep her late mother’s seamstress business afloat in a charming, unnamed mountain town. (Though “Sew Torn” was shot in Switzerland, where MacDonald grew up, none of the main cast is Swiss, which adds to the sense of unreality.) We get the sense that Barbara’s mother was loving but somewhat overbearing; her signature item was cross-stitch portraits that had recordings of their subjects hidden inside them, so Barbara is both comforted and plagued by the sound of her mother’s voice.
After an unfortunate attempt to mend the wedding dress of a local Bridezilla (Caroline Goodall), Barbara is ready to hang up her needles. But on a drive through the mountains, she sees something that shatters the tranquil beauty of the Alps – a roadside motorcycle accident with two injured men, with guns, cocaine and a suitcase full of cash scattered across the pavement.
Barbara could drive away, call the cops, or try to steal the suitcase for herself. Or d) all of the above. “Sew Torn” fractures into three alternative realities, “Run Lola Run”-style, where Barbara tries each of the options. Each leads to similarly disastrous results, particularly when the injured men’s ruthless gangster boss (John Lynch) comes looking for the money.
The situations that MacDonald gets Barbara into and out of are increasingly bizarre, more so because she uses needles and thread to execute her schemes, creating elaborate Rube Goldberg-ian contraptions with pulleys and spools. Sometimes the men become like literal puppets on a string – that is some very strong thread Barbara has in her box.
We’re well beyond gritty realism in “Sew Torn” and in a kind of twee, bloody fantasyland where MacDonald manipulates his characters like dolls around the screen. (He’s said in interviews that he was inspired by stop-motion animation.) Those who like their thrillers a little more grounded in reality might become exasperated, but I was consistently entertained by the clever and elaborate setpieces that MacDonald conjures up.
Connolly is an endearingly desperate protagonist, and it’s enjoyable to see what lengths the seemingly meek Barbara will go to. Lynch is a genuinely unnerving figure as the crime boss, almost rueful as he exacts his revenge on the innocents in this tiny mountain town. And cinematographer Sebastian Klinger shoots the film with bright, saturated colors that are always arresting.
“Sew Torn” is mostly a genre exercise, and a likely calling card for the 24-year-old filmmaker. I can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve.
“Sew Torn” is now playing in select theaters.