There is a fragile vulnerability to being a teenage music fan. Often, music can reach into the spaces where others can’t tread in one’s adolescence. In Emma Higgins’ debut thriller, Sweetness, one teenage girl’s hero worship of a pop star turns into something deadlier.
Sixteen-year-old Rylee (Kate Hallett) is a familiar face in the teenage cinematic canon: lonely and frustrated with the world, sulking through her life and looking for her place in the world. In her angst, she turns to the music of Payton Adler (Herman Tømmeraas) and his band, Floorplan. When she goes to a Floorplan concert with her friend, Sydney (Aya Furukawa), and is subsequently ditched, Rylee ends up in Payton’s car, where she discovers the truth about her idol: He’s a desperate drug addict. After a near-overdose, Rylee takes matters into her own hands and decides to keep Payton so he can detox – in her bedroom.
One of the components that makes Sweetness such a compelling watch is the performance of its lead actor. Hallett as Rylee showcases an extreme but vital range of emotion. The opening of the film features Rylee dutifully watching a “how-to” video on “seducing a man.” She studies the rectangle of light coming out of her smartphone with laser-focused precision. Then, she turns to the posters of Payton that adorn her walls and starts repeating the lines from the video to them. Hallett is honest here, and it doesn’t feel overwrought or forced – indeed, it feels painfully real to anyone who’s been an insecure teenager trying to figure out how to tap into and harness their desirability. Later in the film, Hallett takes this same intensity and churns it into something violent – as if the anger within Rylee is always on the verge of boiling over. When Rylee gets into an argument with her dad’s girlfriend, she hurls comebacks at the concerned woman with incredible venom. Angst is a two-sided emotion here, an anger rooted in deep loneliness, and Hallett’s performance plays both sides superbly.
Higgins’ direction is worth noting as well, letting us into Rylee’s head through certain directorial choices. For instance, at the Floorplan concert Sydney and Rylee attend early on in the film, Rylee and Payton seemingly share a moment. The focus on the two characters is evident even in the sound design, with vocals isolated to emphasize the lyrics Rylee is latching onto in the moment: “All I need is you.”
Sweetness is a movie that understands the aching loneliness that comes with adolescence, and how it can curdle into something more sinister. It’s a promising debut from Higgins, who captures this mood and runs with it all the way to the end.
Screens again Sunday, March 9 and Friday, March 14.
Sweetness
Narrative Spotlight, World Premiere
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This article appears in March 7 • 2025.