I’ve no doubt in my mind Erupcja is gonna surprise Charli XCX’s music fans. “Wait, she’s starring in a little indie about going to Warsaw during a volcanic eruption for holiday?” Those fans don’t know about Charli’s secret double life: Letterboxd champion! Her movie tastes are wide and diverse, clearly the path she’s chosen for her acting career. Pete Ohs’s movie leaves me the same as Charli’s last couple films: a bit perplexed, but ultimately hopeful she’s gonna make something really special sooner rather than later.
Rob (Will Madden) is excited to go on this holiday with his girlfriend Bethany (Charli XCX). This is THE weekend for him, the proposal weekend. Nervous and overstressed after arriving, Will takes a nap. Bethany, meanwhile, reveals why she chose Warsaw: going on a walk to Nel’s (Lena Gora) house. And with Mount Etna erupting, this means suspended travel…and more time for Bethany to figure out what Nel’s situation is, especially with Nel’s just moved back to Warsaw ex, Ula (Agata Trzebuchowska).
LetterboXCXd Charlie’s hands are all over Erupcja. The story really thinks it’s nailed something profound about fate and connection. There’s definitely something there, I agree, especially the final twist I quite liked. But when you’re building your movie around 1 big idea, you have to make sure there’s enough movie around the idea to work. even at 80 minutes, you feel the story stretched out to get to movie length when it probably should have just been a killer short film. The lengthening techniques decrease the impact of the big profound reveal at the end, using overexplaining like on the nose poetry, or plot stitchy voiceover to extend Erupcja unnecessarily.
As for the acting, it’s another interesting character choice for Charli XCX. She’s played a doomed lover, an overworked mocking version of herself, and now an uncontainable worldly spirit. Bethany sews chaos with her presence, breaking out of her current rut at any cost to anyone she cares about. But because that chaos is intoxicating, people like Nel and their friend Claude (Jeremy O. Harris) can’t help but be caught up in it. And her poor fiancé Rob, who will never understand this Bethany, soberingly feels the worst case consequences of Bethany’s choices. There’s a daring to playing a pretty quietly mean character like this, and Charli’s acting chops have gotten good enough that we believe it and understand it, even it we despise it. Lena Gora’s Nel is the meeker kindred spirit version of Bethany, equally swept up but much more wary of consequences. There’s an empathetic loneliness to Nel that attracts us to her. And poor Richard Madden is very good at being an actual nice guy who’s just picked the wrong person to love, as each voicemail he leaves gets sadder and sadder with each response.
You’re almost living your best movie life, Charli XCX! One day you’re gonna find the perfect match of story to your talents, as your taste is already very good. I look forward to it, as well as whatever movies inspire you next, like your 5 * review of Wild Things, or your hearting of Swingers that “reminds me of when i moved to la in 2015 and everyone chased house parties all the time. no one knew who’s house they were in, everyone drove in convoy & hung out w random people at the make shift bar in some kitchen then hit a diner at 4am. does this still happen? idk? i miss it. fuck x“. Well said Charli. I wish cool enough to do the 4am diner after a make shift bar.