Chris Flackett
COVID-19 was tough on everybody. The loss, uncertainty, isolation, and separation from loved ones all took its toll on people. While this not a film about COVID, Shudderbugs, the feature debut from director (also writer and lead actor) Johanna Putnam, captures the emotional ambiance of that period of time to offer a moving portrait of grief and isolation and the effect this can have on a person.
Sam (Putnam) returns to her childhood farmhouse after her mother suddenly passes away. In the process of trying to grieve and to understand how her mother’s death happened, Sam finds herself in an environment that, while familiar, has become strange; both personal items of her mother’s, as well the family dog, have gone missing; the neighbour, Noah (Brennan Brooks, also cinematographer and producer) is acting suspiciously, and Sam herself is seemingly trying to keep a lid on a suspicion that will not be ultimately contained: how did Sam’s mother really die?
Shudderbugs mirrors its making, having been written and created during a period of quarantine at Johanna Putnam’s childhood farmhouse while quarantining with her parents. With little to no budget, cast, or technology available, writing and filming had to tailor itself to the circumstances and get creative to skirt around potential problems. There are only two actors (Putnam and Brooks) throughout the whole film. Extra voices are cleverly being brought in via phone conversations, and the smart speaker system that are still set up to give Sam’s mother reminders also picks up Sam’s dialogue’s with herself and comically interprets them as questions. This allows the sense of isolation in the film to be displayed while giving the illusion of a populated world.
Because of the enforced spare nature of the film’s making, perhaps the most successful thing about Shudderbugs is the way it builds its environment into the film almost as a character in itself. The film is layered throughout with beautifully poetic, sparse shots of the lovely green and leafy environs around Sam’s mother’s house (And what a joy this must have been for Putnam to have as a childhood home! I’m jealous). Putnam allows these scenes to breathe, dwelling on the environment just long enough for us to soak up the space, the peace and perhaps the loneliness too before moving on.
Because of this emotional ambiance, we really do feel Sam’s isolation, that feeling that her world is now less populated by people she loves. Also, in a curious way, it also reminds me of my own experience of COVID quarantine, where because there were less distractions, because we were made to just stop, I was able to look at the environment around me without distraction or having taken it for granted. At the time, I’d never seen the sky so blue—whuch sounds ridiculous, but it shows how much we don’t see when we don’t take the time to actually look, with intent and mindfulness.
Brooks doesn’t get much screen time overall, but he makes the most of his moments, imbuing the character of Noah with a quiet uneasiness that is as much about his discomfort around Sam as it is Sam’s discomfort around Noah. Putnam, meanwhile, nails it as Sam, exploring a range of emotions from suspicion to guilt at potentially having neglected her mother, to firm boundary setting with a certain phone caller, to breaking down into an impulsive, potentially dangerous act. Sam is clearly moving through the stages of grief, and Putnam portrays this with quiet stoicism and dignity which makes her sudden breakdown all the more impactful.
One criticism of the film is that it appears to set itself up as a thriller, with Sam’s suspicions about Noah seeming to be the core on which the action would be built. Yet, by the end, it’s clear this is not a thriller. Shudderbugs, rather, is a calm, mindful meditation on the process of grieving and how we deal with it. That’s absolutely fine. There’s a rich seam of emotion there in that theme to mine, and the film makers have done so with a touching, poetic quality that is strongly to their credit. It does feel, however, that the film tries to lead you one way before switching you to another. For that reason, you may come away with unfulfilled expectations.
Give Shudderbugs a try though, enter into its emotional ambiance with an open mind, and you will be rewarded. For a debut feature, Johanna Putnam has directed a confident and impressive film, one that suggests, should she continue down the directorial road, that there is plenty of potential for her to go even further with her craft. I’ll certainly be watching.
Shudderbugs is availble to stream on VOD now.
