Ah, college. A time for unrequited lust, illegal alcohol consumption, and awkwardly running into your latest Tinder match on the way to your 8 a.m. final. In “CRSHD,” the directorial debut from Emily Cohn, these experiences take on a larger-than-life, distinctly art school magnitude — probably due to Cohn only just graduating from Oberlin in 2017.
Follow along with all our coverage from the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival here.
The film, a competitor at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, centers on Izzy (Isabelle Barbier), a socially awkward virgin determined to sleep with a boy before her freshman year of college ends. When her bubbly friend Fiona (Sadie Scott) learns of a campus “crush party” going down on their last night, she ropes Izzy and their other best friend, Anuka (Deeksha Ketkar), into going. (Never been to a crush party? The rules are simple: You invite someone you have a crush on, and they show up. You only get an invitation if you are likewise someone’s crush.) With Izzy, Fiona, and Anuka each determined to shed their respective romantic hangups before year’s end, there’s a lot riding on this one night. Chaos ensues.
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“CRSHD” looks a lot like a student film — i.e., shot on a DSLR — but its lacking coloring and crispness are supported by stylish animation and graphics. The film is in conversation with multiple other media, from indie PC games to myriad app interfaces. Though its three main characters live on their phones, they’re always shown living out their online interactions in person. This tack has charming artistic implications, as Izzy swipes through Tinder guys (each cast, apparently, over Tinder IRL) and each of them rotates off the screen, or as her crush narrates his profile pic choices during a Facebook stalking sesh. These visuals can get gimmicky, and they don’t overrule some of the weaker parts of the script — like that Izzy’s ultimate romantic interest becomes obvious within the first five minutes — but they do offer a promising first look into Cohn’s cinematic outlook.
When portraying youth tech culture, films often either go overboard-corny (Lisa Azuelos‘s “LOL“) or hit an aesthetic sweet spot (Marialy Rivas‘s “Young and Wild“). “CRSHD” falls right in the middle. Its relationship to insufferable liberal arts pretension is likewise ambivalent, as its characters poke fun at a too-hip female art student, yet tolerate an outright misogynistic alt boy. Less middle-of-the-road are the film’s millennial-specific humor and a standout performance from Sadie Scott. If you grew up on the Internet, this movie is sure to make you laugh, just as Scott’s infectious charm lights up her (tragically scant) solo scenes.
All in all, “CRSHD” is an ambitious film made with impressively few resources. Despite its writing pitfalls and shaggy aesthetic, this first feature shows off Cohn’s vision, wit, and resourcefulness. Like a mysterious cup of jungle juice, the idea of it goes down easier than the final product, but “CRSHD” is sure to leave viewers with a pleasant creative buzz. [B-]
Follow along with all our coverage from the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival here.
