For
confession to be “good for the soul,” it must come with contrition. Viewers
will not get much of that from the entitled Millennials embroiled in the
untimely deaths of two classmates. However, they will be forced to cop to the
roles they played in the campus scandals, as part of a muckraking performance
art installation. The narrators are unreliable, but they still can’t help
revealing themselves in Brad T. Gottfred’s Confessional, which premieres
today on Shudder.
For
the sake of full disclosure, the student behind the Confessional project
takes full credit for the film itself, essentially accusing the producers of pirating
her work, as part of the conceit. Of course, it would be telling to identify
just who that party might be.
Credit
is also due to Amelia, a recently deceased film student, who had made of
practice of filming her classmates’ confessions over the years, including her
own. Clearly, the person controlling the Confessional booth had access to her
archive—and used clips of the more sensitive footage to convince her subjects
to participate. One by one, they enter the sound-proof chamber, reluctantly
answering her questions and prompts.
It
turns out Zach, a star swimmer, also died under mysterious circumstances. Zach’s
ex, June and his former best-friend Garrett could have illuminating
information. So might Raquel the campus drug dealer, Major the misogynistic
preppy, and Sai the geek. Plus, Amelia’s former girlfriends, Noelle and Carrie
should also have plenty to say.
Screenwriter
Jennifer Bosworth rather cleverly unfolds the mystery through each evasive
confession, but most of the characters are more like college caricatures. Frankly,
it is quite impressive Paris Berelc, Annalisa Cochrane, and Mia Xitlati could
make June, Raquel, and Amelia as human and interesting as they did.
However,
this film is really about the confessional novelty, which Gottfred executes
with sufficient energy and intensity to compensate for the cliched stock campus
figures. The design of the Confessional booth definitely helps. It is small
enough to be claustrophobically confining, but big enough to give the cast room
to work with. As a result, the film never has the static vibe of a talking head
picture, like Sally Potter’s cell-phone movie, Rage.
Confessional
should
not shape anyone’s view of the current state of higher education, but it is fun
to see it weave together its revelations. Recommended for fans of gimmicky
thrillers, Confessional is now streaming on Shudder.
