Machination (2022,
co-directors:
Sarah Jayne & Ivan Malekin;
script: Ivan Malekin;
cast: Steffi Thake, Rambert Attard)
Less
than two months after the lockdown began in March 2020,
filmmakers were already marketing finished films with Covid
storylines and themes. (I screen entries for a film festival and
see this stuff fresh from the editing room.)
Most were shorts, but by summer 2020, features were ready for
viewing. Some were shot in apartments "under lockdown." Others
were Zoom "films," just a computer screen with multiple faces, the
actors performing their roles from home. Still others were one-man
projects shot on iPhones.
By now the "Covid film genre" likely includes hundreds of
productions from around the world. Most were, I suspect, an
attempt to exploit a hot "ripped from today's headlines!"
topic. But among them are some interesting works.
Co-directors Sarah Jayne and Ivan Malekin's
Machination was shot "during
the pandemic" (according to its promotional material). In this
short feature film (62 minutes), a young office worker, Maria
(Steffi Thake), exemplifies
Covid hysteria.
Maria is not merely cautious; she's turned hypochondriac. Upon
coming home from work, she strips to her undies, disinfects her
feet, her hands and arms, her shoes, her purse, and throws all her
clothes into the washer.
When Maria showers, we see the red bruises where she's scrubbed
herself raw. She has groceries delivered, refuses to open the door
until the delivery man leaves, then disinfects her packaged food.
When her landlord enters, she panics, social distances by escaping
into her bathroom, and shouts that the rent money is in her
bedroom side table drawer. Just take it and please leave!
Perhaps because Covid is no longer a hot topic,
Machination is marketed as a
psychological horror film. That's not entirely dishonest. Jayne
and Malekin employ horror aesthetics in their story. Eerie music
and sinister whispers convey Maria's fears upon seeing ordinary
objects. As the film progresses, so does her mental breakdown.
She hallucinates and sees worms upon her phone, her food, and
throughout her apartment.
Despite its weighty topic,
Machination
also employs exploitation film techniques. Thake spends an awful lot
of screen time walking about in her undies. And the shower scenes
needn't be so long.
Despite these skin shots, a feminist theme ironically emerges.
Why
is Maria a hypochondriac? It turns out she was sexually abused as a
child. This made her feel dirty. But she had suppressed her
feelings of unwholesomeness, and perhaps the memories as well.
Then Covid burst upon the world and threatened to contaminate
Maria. And no amount of social distancing or disinfection suffices
to protect her, to help her feel safe and clean, because
she already feels polluted.
And so Machination opens as an
"unprogressive" critique of Covid hysteria, but ends safely deep
in progressive territory as Maria is revealed to be a victim of
the patriarchy.
But then I wondered. Maria is
crazy because she's suffered sexual abuse, but she's
still
crazy. The directors have even stated that their film is about, among
other things, mental illness. And so the message remains that you
must
be crazy to overreact to Covid like Maria is doing, whatever
the cause of her hypochondria.
Perhaps to dilute that dangerously "MAGA conservative" message,
Maria's brother, Yorgen (Rambert Attard), spouts conspiracy
theories about 5G and metal-contaminated vaccines. He's the film's
villain, the man who sexually abused Maria when they were young.
Thematically, this translates into: Maria's exaggerated fears of
Covid are crazy, but Yorgen's conspiracy theories are evil.
Machination was shot on Malta. Its
cast all speak English with an accent, so I assume all the actors
are Maltese. Steffi Thake is both talented and looks great in
underwear.
This is a low-budget, indie affair; the distributor claims it cost
6,000 Euros. It was shot mostly in an apartment, mostly with just
Maria. Nevertheless, it's an interesting, at times powerful film.
An oddball mix of
Covid skepticism, feminist critique, and exploitation horror.
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