Jason Sondhi
After screening Max DeFalco’s most recent short film, Follow Me Wherever I Go, I excitedly recounted the plot to my girlfriend, eager to share with her this “insane short” I had just witnessed. While this may strike you as an unremarkable action, you are probably unaware that my partner has next to no interest in cinema, let alone short films, and that I long ago learned to avoid this sort of geeking out around her as a form of ego-defense.
Breaking my own relationship rules, I therefore offer, is a powerful endorsement of DeFalco’s special talent for provocation. A recent alum of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, the young filmmaker makes dark comedies that somehow, even in this era of jadedness, get a rise out of me. They center on figures stressed to their limits, who behave badly, and are not necessarily sympathetic, but are still clearly understandable. A lot of modern comedy is non-sequitur or absurdist, but that is not DeFalco’s tactic—his films are portraits of characters in extremis, and while vulgar and consistently surprising, their plots unspool in ways consistent with those characters—even if that character is framing her son for sex crimes!
That is the opening scene of Follow Me Wherever I Go, and is the first of several transgressively thrilling moments in the film. We begin with Cathleen, the aged mom in question, typing sexy in an early internet chat room. While uncomfortable in its blatancy, one is, for a second, tricked into believing this might be something of a progressive story—a graphic imagining of the sort of late middle-aged, female sexuality that is often hidden in media. Well…it’s not, NOT about that…
Cathleen is, in part, driven by lust, but more accurately, DeFalco has crafted a classically American story—a parable on the will to power, embodied in the unlikely figure of a midwest church lady. Cathleen will stop at nothing to achieve what she wants, no matter how seemingly misguided her desire is from the outside. Cathleen betrays her son, abandons the church in which she is a leader, and bullies her young paramour all to feel…something we’re not exactly sure of.
DeFalco purposely dispenses with backstory, beginning in media res of Cathleen’s fateful day of liberation and desperation, convinced that “…what matters is the intensity of her actions as they unfold.” This is the film’s strength, but it is a double-edged sword—the immediacy is captivating, and allows for the twists and drama that make watching feel like an experiential roller coaster. But, this is ultimately a complex character that is, in ways, ill-served by the constraints of the short format. While I noted that DeFalco’s films are consistent with their characters, the scenes do not necessarily feel causal, creating an edited reel of moments of heightened intensity that enjoyable as they are, can feel as if they do little to illuminate or progress the character arcs.
This sense of ours that DeFalco prioritizes spectacle at the expense of emotional connection caused us to pass on his prior short, Anything Helps, despite it being similarly memorable and accomplished in its ability to provoke. However, what in one short felt like a misbalance feels more like a deliberate tradeoff when viewed across two films. I also return to this writeup’s lede—over the years that I’ve led film curation teams, one of the main heuristics I impart to my programmers is to ask themselves, ‘would I share this film, unprompted, with someone in my real life?’ Removed from the professional structure of “discovery” central to a festival or a channel, would you text this short to a loved one, or put it on when you had friends over? Follow Me Wherever I Go emphatically passed that test for me, and as such, I have no compunction over recommending it to you.
We’re proud to present the online premiere of the film today, coming on the heels of a strong festival run that saw the film feature at Palm Springs, Beyond Fest, and Encounters. The film also notably played the CAA Mobius Showcase, which led to DeFalco recently landing representation. This online debut arrives shortly before another exciting milestone, as the filmmaker’s debut feature, titled Tenn Will, debuts at Slamdance this week. Its description: ‘Tennessee Williams, aka TEN WILL, a recently released convict, must race against time to register as a sex offender.’ I’m dying to see it as I strongly suspect that DeFalco’s style and preoccupations will translate marvelously to the larger palette of features. With a second feature already in the works, we might not see a short again from DeFalco for a while, so be sure to enjoy Follow Me Wherever I Go for now.