‘It's What's Inside’ REVIEW: A fast-paced, sci-fi dark comedy with twists galore
‘It’s What’s Inside’ REVIEW: A fast-paced, sci-fi dark comedy with twists galore
Maya, Nikki, Dennis, Brooke, Shelby, Cyrus, Forbes, and Reuben in It’s What’s Inside | Taken from Netflix
Greg Jardin bends genres with his thriller sci-fi dark comedy It’s What’s Inside, which had its world premiere last January at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The plot follows a group of friends coming together for the first time since college, namely the long-term couple Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and Cyrus (James Morosini), who neglect their relationship problems to avoid ruining this reunion; the social media influencer Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey); the trust fund baby Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood); the stereotypical artist Brooke (Reina Hardesty); and the highly observant Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), who all promised to reunite for the bachelor party of Reuben (Devon Terrell).
However, the most remarkable point of this plot is the arrival of Forbes (David Thompson), an old friend the group hasn’t spoken with throughout the planning of this party, who brings a suitcase with a strange machine inside. This machine uses electrical wires to switch the bodies of people, which Forbes compels the group to use as a game, but he never reveals the true reason it was invented or how it fell into his hands.
Forbes is the most intriguing character of them all. He doesn’t let them know he’s coming beforehand, reveals that his friends have an unfortunate past with his sister Beatrice, and randomly arrives with this strange machine. Why do they welcome him with open arms?
With the exception of Forbes, Brooke seems like the smartest among this group of stupid college friends. She has a monologue at the start of the film about how a subject changes in appearance depending on which lens you look through. When she samples how the subject looks through the red filter, the subject is revealed in its true form, which eventually gets applied throughout the rest of the film — using a post-production treatment with red coloring when showing who really lives inside each body.
Apart from red lighting and color grading, there were several unconventional editing techniques that simplified a complicated narrative structure. Mixed media animations were used to show how each character had different accounts of an event instead of the usual flashbacks, grid collages were used to show how each character reacts to the machine, and much more. These were accompanied by a whirlwind of camera techniques that might cause the audience nausea, but it aligns with the intensity that comes with the machine.
This was a great introduction to how the machine works and the trouble it’s about to cause them. We watch them play several rounds of body-switching, with each round revealing more layers of their insecurities and trust issues that date back to their past relationships in college.
Overall, this film is a fun watch because it uses unique and fast-paced storytelling. It tries to save its less exciting parts with plot twists that may or may not work for you. At the end of the day, it’s a mix of genres that are meant to be fun, so it mostly focuses on that instead of writing a narrative masterpiece.
‘It’s What’s Inside’ is now streaming on Netflix.
