Shot in Tennessee and VXD in Sydney, SKETCH is a quaint kiddie flick about grieving.
After Mum dies, Amber morphs into a maternal orphan, drawing death dealing monsters in her notebook as a way of channelling her pain, grief and anger. Dad and her older brother, Jack, on the other hand, are in a state of denial and channel their energies into dealing with Amber’s frightful effigies.
When her sketchbook accidentally falls into a mysterious blue pond in the woods, a place with the power to both heal and destroy, her creations spring to life in vivid colour and ominous black.
Written and directed by feature film debutante, Seth Worley, after an impressive apprenticeship of short films, SKETCH can be a bit of a stretch, struggling to sustain its ninety-two minute run time.
However, there’s enough smart arse juvenile humour among the delightfully frightful horror and some smart performances from a core cast to keep the interest from flagging to a fall.
Tony Hale is a hardy Dad desperately trying to keep his kids together after the loss of their mother and, glossing over the keen personal loss of his own true love. Indeed, the film could be viewed as a metaphor for the consuming struggles of single parenthood.
D’Arcy Carden presents a no nonsense deadpan as Dad’s real estate agent sister who has the usual savvy to the situation afforded an outsider taking objective stock.
Bianca Bell imbues Amber with a performance illustrative of internal grief externalised by dark heart art, while Kue Lawrence shows early leading man shine as Amber’s protective brother, Jack.
SKETCH plays out like a Minecraft lite, indeed there are allusions to the game in the final stretch, and should find a welcoming audience in kids who like it scary, hairy and enjoy a good bum joke.
