Spontaneous (2020)

2020 R 102 Minutes

When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last.

Overall Rating

8 / 10

Verdict: Good

User Review

d_riptide

9 / 10

Despite some of my more raving reviews, I always like to claim that even in some of the most vile pieces of garbage that has been unmasked to the world, anything and everything can be considered art no matter how bizarre, nonsensical, offensive or demented the mindset of it is. Dylan Duffield’s directorial debut with “Spontaneous” is every bit as zany, harebrained and ridiculous as its premise promised but it’s predetermined like that for a reason because it serves a purpose.
Outside of showcasing a rather unconventional but sweet love story at the forefront, this film cleverly mixes satire, gallows humor, earnest emoting, and quite the nightmarish atmosphere opposite of an resounding and earnest moral lesson that just so happens to highlight the tragic randomness that had befallen 2020.

Our main characters are left heavily effected by the spontaneous deaths that occur and under the impression that they might be next, realize that tomorrow is never a given so whatever it is you accomplish, you better make it worth it: so much of that parallels how much COVID has taken from us and the opportunities it snatches away and how just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can ruin someone’s life and scar them indefinitely. On top of that, Cinematography and editing is fast, fluid and as schizophrenic as the premise, production design is very spacious and open-ended to account for the absurdity, costume design is rather vapid but simplistic and the writing gradually gives us a earnest look at the end through the eyes of the younger generation which is highly elevated by all of its charming performances, the latter of which once again reaffirms Katherine Langford as a potential firecracker of a star in the foreseeable future.

This film benefited off of what Palm Springs managed to execute so well: it’s not too late. It’s the journey that matters more as opposed to the destination: We may never know when the end will dawn on us but we still matter; you’re the one who has to decide if that’s what you want.

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