Fwends is a platonic; entirely improvised comedy from Australian director Sophie Somerville that pairs up the mismatched career-driven but on a break Em and the permanently chill, relaxed and uncaring Jessie. But as the pair stroll around Melbourne on their reunion weekend and run into one incident after another: a strange encounter with a clown; a hunt for coffee, leaving the house and forgetting the keys – as well as key differences on science and fact vs. opinion – what follows turns into an entirely improvised farce that is one of the better Before Sunset homages, and almost feels as good as Richard Linklater’s classic itself.
That’s no small accomplishment. Emmanuelle Mattana and Melissa Gan are the beating heart of Fweinds, their natural chemistry embracing in the script like good company together. Somerville gets them on the same page and you see their differences and what makes them friends just as much what drives them away.
It’s a cutesy; endearingly honest film that feels a result of what would happen after Somerville just decided to go out and shoot the movie; getting the two actors together as they stroll around in an authentic way that is rarely captured on screen. Resentment is key here as building blocks come out – both envy the others’ ideal of a life to some degree but Jessie and Em have secrets and more than they let on that comes out over the turbulent weekend – it’s one of the more well-realised depictions of female friendship on screen; the randomness chance encounters with random people on the street that come from a night on the town is captured more realistically than most scripted encounters – they found Jason Resoort’s Clown Dude on the street whilst filming and just invited him back for the rest of the movie; and he acts as a mentor/companion for the best drugs-induced hallucination sequence since last year’s Kneecap faux biopic; culminating with a fancy voice over from a French man that pokes fun at the entirety of the French new wave canon in the space of ten minutes.
Both women have chosen different paths and the love and resentment that comes out from that in an instant; and the microbudget that this movie is filmed on couldn’t be clearer. There was a seventeen page treatment and some rough character sketching that anchored the film together – and considering the actors only really knew each other two months before shooting; the natural friendship that comes between Mattana and Gan is incredibly honest and genuine. It’s a very talky film that feels real and not forced – it takes you a bit of a time to slow down and – as Jessie would put, just vibe with it – it starts out with the audience fast paced and rushing, as Em would – but by the end, you’re Jessie – relaxed and embraced in the moment. Not every friendship has to be perfect and things get a bit too raw at times – you see what made them friends and you see them what drove them apart. One of my favourite – and most realistic depictions of friendship – is a heated argument over a microphone in Jessie’s apartment that is quickly resolved and brushed over in favour of simply moving onto the next sequence. This is the branching point for the film to get deeper – more real. What follows is the first half being expanded on and corrected to get to where it’s what it actually means – a turning point for a deeper understanding.
The jokes are funny, engaging and the film exists on a quiet mediation of the beauty of friendship and how quickly it can change; for better of for worse. Fwends is an artform of subtleties and complication, playfully expanding the medium and revelling in its ability to push boundaries.