Cecilia – known as Sissy – is a charming, good natured influencer relaying messages of positivity to her 200,000 followers. It’s a far cry from her days as a pre-teen when she and her BFF Emma vowed to grow old together. They even buried a time capsule containing video footage of their shared affection. Now a decade on, having not seen each other, Sissy unexpectedly bumps into Emma again.
Emma (Hannah Barlow) is all smiles and invites Sissy (Aisha Dee) to her bachelorette weekend at a remote cabin. The problem is that it turns out that the home is that of a girl named Alex (Emily De Margheriti), who bullied Sissy mercilessly at school. Alex is now going to be the maid of honour at Emma’s upcoming wedding to her fiancé Fran (Lucy Barrett). Try as she does to fit in with the group, Sissy is sidelined by Alex and by Emma’s other friends. The elephant in the room is Alex’s facial scars, the result of her constant harassment of Sissy. All these years later, Alex still hasn’t forgiven Sissy, but things are about to get a whole lot uglier. It appears that Sissy is particularly accident prone … and blood will be spilled.
Sissy the movie is both comedic and catastrophic. I loved that I had no idea where the narrative arc in the movie was heading. It began as one thing and ended up as something else entirely. The element of surprise wins high plaudits from me in any artistic endeavour.
Aisha Dee is well cast as the lead. In a dominant display as a young woman of contradictions, her demeanour and facial expressions impress. I appreciated the orientation of light and shade in the script by writers and directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes (who also worked together on For Now).
The extremities in plotting and execution make the movie as good as it is. Be warned, because the violence is gory. Nevertheless, I found Sissy quirky and engaging. The picture shocks and entertains and is sickly pleasurable.
Alex First
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Alex First is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
