Synopsis: “When a chance encounter with her rockstar crush leads 16 year old Rylee to discover that he’s a dysfunctional drug addict, she takes it upon herself to help him, ultimately forcing her teenage fantasies into reality.”
Every girl growing up has that one music artist that they obsess over, whether you are a pop fan, an emo girl, or a little bit of both; each generation has its emotional support artist. Emma Higgins tells a coming-of-age story with a chilling twist in Sweetness; it’s unhinged from its carpeted bathrooms to its darkly empathetic lead. It explores our connection to music through grief and how tapped in audiences feel to artists. Paired with some genuinely unsettling moments, Sweetness is sure to top horror fans’ charts.
Teenage girls always have unique interests, creating the foundation of their personality at times. For me, it was Fall Out Boy and Twilight, paired with skinny jeans and side-swept bangs… but that was years ago. Sweetness revolves around the tortured teen life of a 16-year-old Rylee (Kate Hallett), who has a deep connection with music through her favorite artist Payton Adler of the band Floorplan(Herman Tømmeraas). Her life is as complicated as any teen girl’s life is, trying to fit in with girls her age while cliques form in school, and boys are cruel. Living with her widowed father (Justin Chatwin) after the tragic death of her mother, Rylee’s life is forever altered again when she attends a Payton Adler concert.
Sweetness is a quick 1 hour and 33 minutes, and as Rylee and her only friend Sidney (Aya Furukawa) sing along to their favorite songs as the concert dies down. As any fan would, Rylee wants to get her hands on merchandise to commemorate her first concert; short on cash, she walks away from the merch table, seeking out Sidney. Wandering around the venue, Rylee stumbles upon Payton arguing with his manager John (Steven Ogg) over his substance abuse and its impact on his performance. As her eavesdropping is sniffed out, she finds herself in the parking lot still unable to find her friend. In a sick twist of fate, Rylee lands herself in the front seat of Payton’s car; this is when Sweetness takes a turn into a demented teenage fantasy that disturbs at every twist. Vowing to save her idol at any cost, Rylee goes from awkward shy girl to a mini Annie Wilkes in Misery.
There won’t be another film released this year with a lead that has the ability to scowl like Hallett. One of the most memorable moments of Sweetness is when she’s sitting in her kitchen, fully convinced her antics have been found out. As her father’s police partner enters the room, Rylee’s cold face is chilling in the context of her actions, especially. Hallett brings Rylee alive with quirks recognizable to anyone who has known a teenager: the gym class quick change, the nervous glances of guilt to your parents. Her ability to show Rylee as a real person is gripping; you feel her frustration with school and resonate with her lonely shuffle through life. Her chemistry with her costars, especially Furukawa makes their moments together endearing.
Higgins both writes and directs Sweetness; with this being her debut feature, she has crafted not only a story that stands out in its unique narrative but also a distinct visual flair. Choosing to tell this story through a teenage girl allows Higgins to explore how passionate girls are about their interests and the naivety of thinking your rock star crush is into you. There’s a sense of instant connection with those who we deem famous nowadays, through the numerous forms of gossip sites, and even social media. Higgins taps into this with Rylee listening to blind items, refreshing dedicated fan blogs, and even what seems archaic magazine clippings. Setting the film in a middle-income home nails how often Rylee is alone with her own grief as her father works long hours as a police officer. Higgins nails the lonely girl lost in her Spotify playlist, dreaming of a life unlike her current one. Sweetness captures the unhinged spiral through slow zooms on Rylee as she dissociates with music and the maze-like corridors of her home.
Where Sweetness stands out with its strong writing, directing, and lead performance, it also does visually. Creating an eerie story of it’s own from the Midwestern adjacent styling, to the camerawork. Achieved through Electa Porado’s production design and Mark Kowalsky’s set decorating, the film places you directly in middle-class American suburbs. Outdated multi-level homes with seemingly endless hallways disorient audiences as Rylee sneaks her celebrity crush into her home to detox. Carpeted bathrooms with pee guards along the bottom of the toilet make Rylee’s home feel uncomfortable to inhabit outside of her bedroom, which is oozing with her personality. With Mat Barkley’s cinematography, each frame is perfectly adjusted to fit the details of Rylee’s home inside. Barkley’s work stands out the most in the beginning of Sweetness when Rylee and Sidney first enter their on-vacation neighbor’s home; a hallway splits the shot, leaving the two girls in differing rooms, keeping both in the shot and allowing their conversation to continue without missing a beat.
Overall Sweetness marks an impressive feature debut from Higgins that makes her more than worthy to keep an eye out for future projects. Sweetness balances it’s themes well, showing the depths of obsession uniquely told through a teenager. Hallett shines as she quickly finds out fantasies are better off as just that.
Rating & Release
4/5
Sweetness released March 7, 2025 at SXSW. Official release pending.
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A film lover from Mid Michigan who is a voting member of Michigan Movie Critics Guild, and North American Film Critics Association.
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