Review: X

 Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

X
Directed by Scott J. Ramsey
Cinedigm; The Foundation
127 minutes, 2021
www.everybodylovesx.com/
www.cinedigm.com/
www.imdb.com/title/tt8151450/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

Once a month, a charitable organization called The Foundation invites a group of people for some care-free debauchery. The “King” of the Party is 26-year-old Christian (Hope Raymond), known as X, and who also handed out the invitations to the guests. One unexpected one, though, is ex-school mate Stella (Eliza Bolvin), dubbed E7 for the party. Everyone wears masks (no, not the pandemic type) and goes by a letter and number, as on a chess board.

As X is the King, her associate, Danny (Brian Smick), is known as The Queen. He and Christian run the monthly sex parties under the title of a Masked Charity Ball that entrances the rich to come and spend their inheritance on a good “cause.” While they are indulging in their passions, The Foundation makes money and Christian gets off on her own by doing a Chuck Berry and viewing videos she has hidden in the bathroom. She is not interested in the coupling route, but rather indulging in onanism (sometimes with batteries).

Hope Raymond

One of the strong points of the story, which is broken up into five chapters, is that the two people who run the ball, The King and the Queen, are not presented as necessarily evil and authoritarian, but rather as people trying to work their way through life. We see Christian in some very weak moments (between balls), drinking too much, and trying to get over insecurities she earned in a Catholic high school from being in unrequited love (lust?) with Stella.

In an interview with Starburst, director Ramsey said, “I would define it as a queer film, because more importantly than the characters being queer, it has a queer sensibility to it, and because the filmmakers are queer. But ultimately, it wasn’t about their sexualities, so it wasn’t necessarily for us to make that the focus.” 

Eliza Bolvin

While visually and thematically closer to Eyes Wide Shut (1999) than X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), there’s also an element of Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” and Agatha Christie mysteries mixed in. This is especially true when the bathroom camera turns up a violent crime by another acquaintance, who one may refer to as the Iago of the piece. At this time, well past the halfway point, things really start to pick up. It also puts Christian in a bind, because to expose it, she would need to reveal the illegal filming.

This is the first feature length film for the director, who has said he wanted it to be “an intersection of erotic thriller and queer camp.” Did he succeed? Funny thing is, is that as much as this is a story about sexual debauchery, there is actually not much actual sex shown, most of it implied. There is also surprisingly miniscule amounts of nudity. As for the camp level, there is definitely some there; perhaps not reaching the Showgirls (1995) level, but the pan-sexuality is definitely worth noting.

One of the odd things about the film is the sound of the talking. It gives the impression that all the dialogue was recorded and added after, because of how flat the sound is; sort of like a dubbed Scandinavian film from the 1970s. The lips match the words, but it just appears strange in tone, like everyone is the exact same distance from the image.

Much of the background music is classical, such as Beethoven’s 9 Symphony Second Movement, and a light tinkling, almost music box sounding version of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which is repeated during intense moments, and there are a lot of them. The film is well shot, showing both the pathos of some characters and the bravado of others; or in the case of Christian, both. Luckily, Raymond has the acting chops to come off as both in charge and someone with a touch of PTSD from being bullied in years before.

Did Ramsey achieve his goal to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”? Well, the writers were going for a “Shakespearean tragedy” level of story, but to me it felt more like a telenovela, especially once certain secrets are brought to light. Everything is over emotional, and there is definitely an aesthetically soap opera level to it all, especially thanks to its over 2-hour length, which seemed a bit excessive. Sure, mostly it kept the story going, but this is an indie film, not a mega-superhero-budgeted-three-stories-at-once kind of film, so with all the emotional back and forth going on, it did start to wear after a while.

Valerie Façhman

One of the things supporting the film is that the acting skills are quite good. Raymond carries it, going in and out of glamorous to plain, in charge and feeling out of sorts, and never leaving one to doubt the emotional roller coaster. I would also like to note Valerie Façhman, who plays X’s dementia-ladened mom Lynda, and steals many of her scenes.

The film took five years of “blood, sweat, and rose petals,” says the young director, and it shows in the work. The visuals are quite stunning and there are many different styles thrown in, including split screens, and it all enhances the story rather than draining from it. At this length, that’s a positive thing.

The title is hard to search for on the Internet, so I have included its IMDB page at the top. It is available to buy or rent on major digital platforms, such as iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and VUDU.