Céline Roustan
Imagine you’re in a financially tough situation, and you scroll through the apps to find your estranged father – whom you’ve always known as a deadbeat – actively seeking a sugarbaby. This is what happens to Dinky, who convinces her sister Flossy they should pay him a visit and figure out what’s going on. With Finding Daddy, writer/director Emily Wilson crafts a delightfully funny sibling story, where the protagonists’ mission perfectly blends absurdity with emotional depth.
“I wanted Finding Daddy to feel lived in, where no detail is too small”
The exposition of Finding Daddy is so sharply written, with a raw, unapologetic honesty, that it almost feels like a stream of consciousness. So it’s not surprising to learn that “a depressing, dark internal monologue” Wilson had one day by a pool inspired those opening lines – a starting point from which she built the rest of the narrative. The director pays specific attention to the universe in which the film unfolds: a “familiar world where I could air out very real frustrations while still having fun with the language, gnarly world-building, and cinematic style,” she explained.
Visually, the world she brings to the screen with DP Kelsey Talton is incredibly detailed. From the color palette and framing to the production design by T Marsh (who also worked as production designer on Neal Mulani’s short Rat!), everything feels palpable and enhances the overall tone of the film. “I wanted Finding Daddy to feel lived in,” Wilson reveals and there is something very organic about the way they paint the mess and chaos in the film, which complements both the comedy and its deeper layers.
Cricket Arrison (L) & Lauren Servideo stars as sisters, Dinky & Flossy, in Finding Daddy
When describing the tone, the director admits she “wanted to make a film that struck a balance between bleak realism and heightened triumph.” To get there, she strikes a balance that allows the film to succeed on both fronts. Constantly juggling its sad and absurd undertones, the story is cleverly constructed, with the pacing refined in the edit to ensure the broader commentary on adulting and the state of the world never turns into farce.
To some extent, the film is also empowering, as we want these two sisters to succeed and get their lives together. Both Cricket Arrison and Lauren Servideo are perfect as the two sisters. The life they inject in their characters makes the story all the more compelling, giving subtle backstory and hitting all the nuances of the screenplay.
Ahead of its online debut, Finding Daddy toured the festival circuit. Wilson is currently developing a feature dark comedy with “an erotic thriller underbelly”, as well as the feature version of Finding Daddy.