Jay Rohr
Bight hopes to ensnare audiences in a relatable erotic thriller. Through a blend of bondage alongside dramatic romantic disintegration, writer-director Maiara Walsh weaves a surprisingly solid plot. Though it isn’t flawless, there’re reasons for anyone wanting a fresh thriller to consider Bight.
The central premise involves Charlie and Atticus (Maiara Walsh and Cameron Cowperthwaite), a couple on the rocks. Hoping to rejuvenate their diminishing joy, they attend a party one evening only to discover they’re the sole guests. Their hosts, Sebastian and Naomi (Mark Hapka and Maya Stojan), are a pair of successful artists. Over the course of the evening, it’s revealed the two couples have exchanged partners, opening their relationships to one another sexually. Tonight, Sebastian hopes to revisit those highly charged moments by integrating Charlie and Atticus into his latest photo project, a series of bondage based erotic art.
What ensues is almost a game of chicken with a racing freight train. Bight becomes a tale of manipulation headed towards revenge as different characters tempt, tease, and dare one another into ruin. All along the way things worsen in ways characters do not foresee.
Bight refreshingly takes its erotic elements seriously. There’s never any sense of sex being displayed gratuitously. Bight isn’t about sensationalism, where erotica is meant to distract from bad writing or poor acting. The use of bondage isn’t a titillating tactic so much as a metaphor that ties events together.
For instance, Sebastian is a successful photo artist utilizing shibari in his work. It’s essentially a type of bondage with Japanese roots in samurai culture. Instead of being used as a gimmicky kink, his BDSM inclination informs a great deal about his personality. Not to mention, certain events can only unfold as a consequence of characters being bound.
There is a central notion of being linked or bound to events as well as people. Such ties can inflict pain, pleasure, or foster connections which may result in their own discomfort. Furthermore, control, especially the loss of it, or rather the relinquishing of it comes into play.
While it’s nice to see Bight take its sexual segments seriously, the movie does get a bit muddled displaying some of those portions. There’s an almost surreal aspect where memories bleed into moments. Though visually intriguing these peripheral flashbacks, which can be informative, regarding plot and motivations, in addition to seeming like a character’s desires, occur without much explanation at first. Fortunately, Bight eventually takes a moment to clarify why viewers are suddenly seeing seemingly random sex scenes.
Granted, audiences shouldn’t need to be spoon-fed everything. Still, the narrative clarity in Bight gets muddy for a portion. This is, perhaps, due to main characters not wanting to talk about their shared sexual experience. It’s fair enough given how reminiscing about group sex isn’t everyone’s idea of casual dinner conversation. Though it may be intended to introduce tension, having to deduce what’s being discussed makes things harder to watch casually. Essentially, some narrative threads don’t necessarily gain clarity during characters interactions but rather after the audience pauses to parse out what’s going on. Although Bight isn’t exactly a Rubix cube, this causes a mild hiccup in the flow as the story risks leaving viewers behind.
At risk of implicative spoilers, the film’s conclusion may feel exceedingly shocking as well. While events don’t necessarily come out of nowhere, Bight’s darkest parts crescendo sharply. Suddenly, the downward spiral goes off the rails into an extremity that feels like a radical shift in severity. Characters go from emotionally damaging one another to outright physical cruelty in a blink. Though that said, erotic thrillers are often a tragic descent into madness.
Visually, Bight is a wonderful flick. Writer-director Maiara Walsh exhibits a splendid eye for composition. The camera wobbles during chaotic scenes. Shots sway towards erotic recollections replayed in mirrors then back to characters who’re trying not to reflect on the past. Bight is rarely a series of plain shots and the use of angles alongside cinematography often accentuates the intended mood.
The one thing that seems to be missing is an arousing erotic aspect. Bight isn’t softcore porn with pretentious aspirations. It’s a story about the negative consequences of sexual entanglements, especially when unprocessed emotions become toxic. As such, the sexual elements are diminished by the darkness surrounding them. And perhaps that’s the point, sex loses its luster when tarnished.
Make no mistake, the movie isn’t a condemnation of sex. It simply acknowledges the emotionally complicated nature of physical intimacy. Something the cast wonderfully captures.
Mark Hapka (Parallels) is fabulously odious as a pompous photographer trying to manipulate his friends into an uncomfortable sexual experience. Maya Stojan (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) is equally engaging, especially her subtle reactions to others’ dialogue. Cameron Cowperthwaite (Monster) delivers a restrained performance as someone simmering closer and closer to boiling over in rage. Meanwhile, Maiara Walsh excellently conveys someone frustrated to the point she jumps blindly into a whirlpool that sucks her down into darkness.
Throughout Bight there are excellent instances of characters reacting to something said or done without a word. Hapka is especially good at delivering sidewise self-aggrandizing pontifications about any variety of topics that make him instantly unlikeable, and the chemistry between Cowperthwaite and Walsh, who both penned the script, shows a couple on the brink instantly regretting the wounds they inflict as the night gets worse. Even better, there are scenes where characters can be seen realizing in the moment that things have crossed a line making certain instances more unsettling.
Bight is a solid first feature from writer-director Maiara Walsh. It’s more often visually satisfying than dull. The cast is on point throughout, frequently making subtle choices that add to certain moments in ways dialogue never could. Some muddled storytelling puts a few bumps in the road, but overall, Bight ties up its loose threads in the end. Meanwhile, this erotic thriller is more than just sex. It’s a look at what happens when taut heart strings fray and someone snaps.
