Listen Carefully (U.S., 2024)
Writer/director/star Ryan Barton-Grimley’s feature Listen Carefully follows a harrowing night in the life of Assistant Bank Manager Andy (Barton-Grimley), and it’s an entertaining, sometimes head-scratching, ride. As Andy’s wife Allie (Simone Barton-Grimley) skeptically leaves her husband in charge of their baby for a girl’s night out with his promise that he will prioritize the wellbeing of their child ahead of his work from home, Andy’s job anxiety becomes the least of his worries after the baby is kidnapped. A mysterious voice (Ari Schneider, who costarred with with Ryan Barton-Grimley in the latter’s writing/directing feature Hawk and Rev: Vampire Slayers) on the other end of a baby monitor sends Andy on a wild quest to gather enough money — in an illicit, dangerous manner — for ransom. Listen Carefully sends both Andy and viewers down a path in which reality and dreams intermingle to the point of being unsure which is which. Ryan Barton-Grimley keeps Andy’s anxiety level, along with the film’s suspense and mystery, at a high pitch. Viewers who lean into the lunacy should find Ryan Barton-Grimley’s darkly humorous, blood-soaked, nightmare-fueled Listen Carefully to be a brain-jarring blast.
Princeton’s in the Mix (U.S, 2024)
How far will parents go to see their children gain acceptance into top universities? Headlines from the not-so-distant past involving celebrities and others well-placed in society give partial answers to that question, but writer/director Joanthan DiMaio brings things to a horror-comedy extreme in his short film Princeton’s in the Mix. High school student Teddy (Charlie Besso) wants to focus on his love of piano to attend the school of his choice, but his mother Beth (Heather Burns) has higher academic aspirations in mind for him. After hearing how her friends found a way for their children to get an advantage on the SATs — it’s not one that parents in their right mind would subject their kids to, this being a horror comedy — Beth tries to talk Teddy into taking the same route. When he refuses, Beth’s anxiety rises as her grip on sanity loosens, leading to a dangerous mother vs. son struggle. Burns is fantastic in her role as a tiger parent, and Besso is also impressive as the son wishing only to follow his dream. DiMaio handles both the horrific and humorous elements equally strongly, delivering a technically sound, great-looking, riveting short that shines a wickedly satirical light on familial anxiety and the lengths to which some overly determined parents will reach regarding seeing their own plans for their children through.
Listen Carefully and Princeton’s in the Mix screen as part of Dances with Films, which runs June 20–30 in Los Angeles.
