Stress Positions (2024)

“Just lie! Be free! Fiction is freedom!

Stress Positions is one of my favourite scripts of the year. Written by Theda Hammel (who also directed) and Faheem Ali, they perfectly capture the chaos of summer 2020 while also nailing the narcissism and anti-muslim racism in a neo-liberal city like NYC. The story is set in a run down New York brownstone on July 4th weekend during the height of COVID, and follows several different characters as they (fail to) cope. I particularly love how the script uses different narrators to create a contrast between their actions. Everything about this movie is uncomfortable and chaotic in a very realistic way, and I think that takes a special kind of skill to accomplish that!

On top of that, Hammel’s direction choices are very impressive, especially for an ensemble cast, especially for her first feature film! Comedic actor-writer John Early brings the perfect kind of nervous arrogance to his character Terry, who is struggling to reckon with a sudden divorce. The brownstone in which he’s living feels like a relic of hyper-hedonism, a constant reminder of the lifestyle that consumed his youth. Hammel’s character Karla presents herself as a healer and an intellectual, but her actions prove she is anything but. Everyone behaves like they are in liminal states, always on the verge of an epiphany that they refuse to see.

Though all of these characters reach for connection, they do so in the most self-involved, consumer-based ways. There is no community in this story, sirens are constantly blaring, and everyone is afraid. The counter to all of this is Bahlul (Qaher Harhash), Terry’s very young nephew who is recovering from a broken leg. His narration and self reflections are soothing, a counter balance to the intrusive chaos. Bahlul’s observations feel the most truthful, and in the film’s final moments it is Bahlul’s choice that reveals the emptiness of everyone else’s rhetoric.