Emergency (2022)
With the Black Lives Matter movement being a defining piece of the push for substantial societal change and justice in the past decade, it only makes sense that cinema has reflected this interest in understanding the struggles of the black perspective with more voices and opinions being heard than ever before. Screening as part of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Carey Williams's Emergency hopes to share a perspective on the weight this identity carries as a group of college-aged boys find themselves in a tough situation once they find a random drunk white girl passed out in their house one night. They fear calling the police and instead seek to find a means to deal with the situation on their own that hopefully won't ruin their last night of partying as a group. Before the review starts, it is important to bring awareness that this review is done by a white individual so the thoughts shared in this review should be seen from that perspective. With films such as Emergency, there needs to be black voices at the front of the conversation surrounding the conversation regarding its identity and in no way is this review meant to overlook that perspective of review and I would highly suggest you also seek out those perspectives.
Rather brutal with a clear comedic edge, Emergency works best when it comes to its characters. While the group of main protagonists includes the rather innocent Sebastian Chacon, the meat of the film is seen in the relationship between Donald Watkins's Kunie and RJ Cyler's Sean. These men set off to be the first black individuals to successfully complete the "legendary tour” which will see the two attend every frat party in one night but quickly find themselves way over their own heads. Their frustration builds until they are at each other's throats and openly the two lash out at each other over their own unique perspectives and experiences as people of color. Not only are the film's most poignant moments found in their dialogues but so are the best performances of the film with Donald Watkins giving what is sure to be one of the best performances of the year. While these two try to play off their emotions with comedy and a somewhat toxic sense of masculinity, when they break it is devastating and there are various scenes featuring these two that are sure to haunt viewers long after the runtime ends.
This isn't to say that every piece of social commentary fully works for the feature. K.D. Dávila's screenplay attempts to work in plot details to touch on ideas such as contradictory white people who claim they care about Black Lives only to still hold racist prejudices and lackluster apologies from those who are caught for being racist but ultimately struggles to make a meaningful connection to these ideas. They are thrown in but never truly given that much time or meaning with the inclusion of these ideas ultimately feeling rather hollow. The ending is also an interesting conclusion to break down. With subverting certain expectations when it comes to what the conclusion of the feature will entail, the film threatens to ultimately undercut its own fears. It is rather obvious however that the ending faced quite a bit of development as the film goes on and on with multiple shots that easily could have been the ending of the film. While what the actual final scene ends up being is rather perfect and is absolutely devastating in its own right, the pacing of the third act of the film is terrible and truly feels like one of the messiest and most mishandled endings of any film in recent memory.
There also is quite a few confusing narrative decisions that are out of place and uninteresting. From a continued focus on a group of students trying to follow these men on their journeys to continued drama regarding the potential of partying that same night, the screenplay simply feels messy and lacking of focus. When the stakes include that of a seemingly innocent girl dying and these men possibly having their lives ruined forever, the stakes of them being able to complete a tour of frat parties suddenly feels like the film is playing with monopoly money at the poker table. What is shockingly clean however is how funny the film is. Blending humor with subject materiel of this weight might not be the first idea many have but the execution within Emergency is fantastic. The film is genuinely funny with characters having real charisma and personality that never takes away from the more serious emotions or stakes. On paper, this should the easiest thing to screw up but surprisingly it is one of the things the film does the best.
Still, Emergency is an overall success that while messy, is clearly worthwhile. One cannot fully state just how incredible Donald Watkins is with his performance an early contender for Best Actor in 2023. The film is both hilarious and haunting with the final shot sure to stick around as one of the most haunting shots of the year. Maybe it isn't perfect, but Emergency is still definitely a trip that should be taken.
Rather brutal with a clear comedic edge, Emergency works best when it comes to its characters. While the group of main protagonists includes the rather innocent Sebastian Chacon, the meat of the film is seen in the relationship between Donald Watkins's Kunie and RJ Cyler's Sean. These men set off to be the first black individuals to successfully complete the "legendary tour” which will see the two attend every frat party in one night but quickly find themselves way over their own heads. Their frustration builds until they are at each other's throats and openly the two lash out at each other over their own unique perspectives and experiences as people of color. Not only are the film's most poignant moments found in their dialogues but so are the best performances of the film with Donald Watkins giving what is sure to be one of the best performances of the year. While these two try to play off their emotions with comedy and a somewhat toxic sense of masculinity, when they break it is devastating and there are various scenes featuring these two that are sure to haunt viewers long after the runtime ends.
This isn't to say that every piece of social commentary fully works for the feature. K.D. Dávila's screenplay attempts to work in plot details to touch on ideas such as contradictory white people who claim they care about Black Lives only to still hold racist prejudices and lackluster apologies from those who are caught for being racist but ultimately struggles to make a meaningful connection to these ideas. They are thrown in but never truly given that much time or meaning with the inclusion of these ideas ultimately feeling rather hollow. The ending is also an interesting conclusion to break down. With subverting certain expectations when it comes to what the conclusion of the feature will entail, the film threatens to ultimately undercut its own fears. It is rather obvious however that the ending faced quite a bit of development as the film goes on and on with multiple shots that easily could have been the ending of the film. While what the actual final scene ends up being is rather perfect and is absolutely devastating in its own right, the pacing of the third act of the film is terrible and truly feels like one of the messiest and most mishandled endings of any film in recent memory.
There also is quite a few confusing narrative decisions that are out of place and uninteresting. From a continued focus on a group of students trying to follow these men on their journeys to continued drama regarding the potential of partying that same night, the screenplay simply feels messy and lacking of focus. When the stakes include that of a seemingly innocent girl dying and these men possibly having their lives ruined forever, the stakes of them being able to complete a tour of frat parties suddenly feels like the film is playing with monopoly money at the poker table. What is shockingly clean however is how funny the film is. Blending humor with subject materiel of this weight might not be the first idea many have but the execution within Emergency is fantastic. The film is genuinely funny with characters having real charisma and personality that never takes away from the more serious emotions or stakes. On paper, this should the easiest thing to screw up but surprisingly it is one of the things the film does the best.
Still, Emergency is an overall success that while messy, is clearly worthwhile. One cannot fully state just how incredible Donald Watkins is with his performance an early contender for Best Actor in 2023. The film is both hilarious and haunting with the final shot sure to stick around as one of the most haunting shots of the year. Maybe it isn't perfect, but Emergency is still definitely a trip that should be taken.