'SCRAPS' A Review

SCRAPS is a dark comedy about a well-meaning dinner party that turns acerbic and perhaps revelatory due to series of unfortunate events. The film opens on Erin(Jo Scott) methodically cleaning her house when her husband Isaiah(Mike Brunlieb) comes home from the grocery having forgotten various items. It becomes clear they have a relatively easy marriage with Erin the more type-A and Isaiah the more light-hearted. The guests soon arrive Erin's sister Tanya(Emma Pope) and her fiance Matt(Damian Anaya) and almost immediately polite veneers begin to crumble.

The four leads all put in great performances- Scott as the desperately co-dependent control freak, Brunlieb as the gross and despicable manchild, Anaya as the sincerely kind but frustratingly obtuse would-be doctor, and Pope as 30 something existential crisis incarnate. On the page Scott and Brunlieb's characters are a bit more fully formed so there's more relish in their performances where as Anaya and Pope aren't as flushed out and don't have the creshendo moments the other two do.

Visually the film is tight and confining, helping propagate the building tension, with numerous close ups and restricted shots which back up the claustrophobic emotional action. The score is not as effective as it could be coming in hard and indicating at moments and then disappearing completely for long stretches of the run time. It could be more fluid and subtle with better results. Similarly the third act feels a big clogged with action, the pleasure of the film is the pathetic and delicious nasty humor as a result of the, mostly, normal interactions not the capital E Events. This freshman effort from writer/director Daniel Shar is undoubtedly compelling and exciting displaying a level of proficiency and ability that bode for interesting things to come.

Funny, bizarre, with a surprising streak of 21st Century ennui.

See It.