Super Dark Times

Kevin Phillips's first film, written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. Mid-1990s American suburbia. Zach and Josh are inseparable. They ride bikes, watch tapes, talk about girls. Then one afternoon, in a completely stupid moment, something happens, and from then on both become different people. What the film does is build adolescent nostalgia and then rot it from inside. The first half hour is warm and familiar; after that the same streets, the same bedrooms and the same snow turn menacing. The photography and sound design do this without a single line of explanation. Owen Campbell and Charlie Tahan take the leads. It had its North American premiere at Tribeca in 2017, and Phillips was nominated that year for the Someone to Watch award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Before you watch, know this: it begins as a coming-of-age drama and ends as a thriller, and the violence is abrupt. The ending is also left open, which will feel unsatisfying to anyone who wants everything explained.