What’s that old saying about containing multitudes? In witty and dark sci fi identity comedy Madelines, Brea Grant (the titular Madeline) is faced with the uncomfortable possibility that the doppelgängers of herself that she has accidentally unleashed could end the universe.
Of course, we all know that having two versions of yourself walking the timeline at the same time will inevitably mean more than just chaos and personal confusion, and so every time an alternate Madeline pops into existence, Madeline prime and her husband/research colleague Owen (Perry Shen) have to murder them and dispose of the body.
Call it an argument against coding drunk: Madeline decides to drop herself into their experimental time machine after accidentally inserting an error into the software that means a future version of herself will pop out of the timeline, and so has to be dispatched.
The cycle of well-meaning murder is what propels the grimly humorous Madelines, as Madeline and Owen bicker about who does the killing and how to do it, especially as every new Madeline seems have murder on their mind. Until one turns up to break the cycle …
Cowriting with director Jason R. Miller, Grant’s flair for morally complicated and emotionally edgy characters (as displayed in her directorial debut, pitch-black crime comedy 12 Hour Shift) is on display here, as is the penchant for intriguing violence integral to her script for subversive rap-revenge psychodrama Lucky. But Madelines is lighter than either – at least initially, until the sheer number of dead bodies, the questions raised about how little it takes to change someone forever, and Owen’s attitude to madelinocide, all start to reveal the underlying tensions of their relationship.
The screwball aspects of the opening act slip deliciously into an SF relationship comedy, one where stings, barbs, silences, and apologies are complicated by a plethora of different versions of the same woman. Both Miller and Grant know how to work the distinctions between them, keeping the identities separate (unless confusion is essential). Meanwhile Shen is a perfect yelping voice of well-meaning confusion, increasingly incapable of working out which Madeline is which.
By cunningly disguising its microbudget production, and soothing the acerbic bite of its wicked twisting nature through being both witty and silly, Madelines revels in its multiple-identity crisis, and reveals itself as a thoroughly entertaining lo fi chamber piece.
Madelines plays as part of the virtual Other Worlds Film Festival, running through Dec. 12. Passes and info at otherworldsfilmfest.com.
This article appears in December 3 • 2021.
