The gnawing omnipresence of an consuming dysfunction turns into the supply of physique horror in Samantha Aldana’s completed, visually spectacular debut. Drawing from her personal expertise of bulimia, co-writer Kelly Murtagh is phenomenal as Ivy, an aspiring jazz singer who's trapped in an countless cycle of bingeing and purging. Easy when it comes to plotting, the harrowing character research opts to render the horrifying results of Ivy’s psychological situation via a distinctly sensorial soundscape.
Delicate to the presence and mentions of meals, Ivy appears to exist exterior her personal physique. Her thoughts is occupied with the sounds of candy wrappers being torn open, cereal clattering towards a glass bowl, the beeping tones of the register as a cashier marvels at her unusually massive grocery order. The digicam additionally stalks Ivy bodily, echoing the character’s damaging obsession along with her physique; she will be able to’t assist however stare at each reflective floor.
Deep within the fugue of her turmoil, Ivy begins to hallucinate unusual growths and deformities on her flesh; these style components are nonetheless just one small facet of what makes Shapeless so efficient as a horror movie. Ivy’s bulimia is just not merely a shock machine however a always self-destructive ritual that has eclipsed the whole thing of her existence, threatening to destroy her interpersonal relationships and even her voice. For these private demons, there isn't any cut-and-dried exorcism, and the movie additionally refuses to wrap itself up with a straightforward catharsis. Just like the surreal, haunting picture of a smiling Ivy mendacity atop a heap of meals wrappers, tinfoil and rubbish luggage that lock her in an eerie embrace, what Shapeless leaves us with is the all-consuming loneliness that dwelling with an consuming dysfunction brings.
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