NOW ON SHUDDER! It’s time to run with the “snort through a straw” dogs with the party-till-you-die thriller Find Your Friends, the stunning feature debut by Izabel Pakzad. A wild bunch of girls is back together again to party until the world obeys. Doing shots, smoking weed, and doing lines are Amber (Helena Howard), Lavinia (Bella Thorne), Zosia (Zion Moreno), Maddie (Sophia Ali), and Lola (Chloe Cherry). While partying on a yacht, Amber spies her ex with some skank, so to make him jealous, she starts making out with a cute guy she doesn’t know. When they go off together, she drunkenly tells him she only wanted to kiss and tries to leave. He then proceeds to start to rape her. Amber and her friends get thrown off the yacht after Amber breaks a glass punchbowl over the guy’s head. Amber doesn’t give the others much explanation, keeping the impact of the violation mostly to herself.
“When all the girls flee the party, they suddenly have the headlights of a big truck bearing down on them…”
Despite their misgivings about her lashing out, the girls allow Amber to come along for the blowout in the desert in Joshua Tree. While getting drunk as skunks and higher than hoot owls in their desert Airbnb, Russell, an angry local in the house nearby, tells them to shut their damn music off. That night, at the party, Amber is drawn to the DJ, Coby (Harrison Sloan Gilbertson), who turns out to be sober. Amber kisses him hard, but then freaks out, flashing back to the yacht rape. While lots of Joshua Tree residents at the party that night seem cool enough, and cute enough to hook up with, there are some scary-looking rednecks hanging out there as well. Lola is drawn to the necks’ supply of questionable cocaine, which is probably cut with drywall. Her friend drags her away from them, as they also have to deal with Amber melting down. When Amber tries to leave the party, she is cornered by the rednecks in their truck. When all the girls flee the party, they suddenly have the headlights of a big truck bearing down on them…
The first sign of a great film is when you are immediately reminded of a great director’s work. The second sign of greatness is when it transcends the material you are reminded of. With Find Your Friends, I was reminded of three great directors while watching Pakzad’s work. The first was an immediate skin bath of Harmony Korine, with the Spring Breakers girls out of bounds opening act. The middle act was haunted by the shadow of Billy Wilder, with a Lost Weekend that ends up permanent for some. But then we arrive at the third act, which is pure Sam Peckinpah, a Straw Dogs meets The Wild Bunch in bikinis. But each and every time Pakzad outdistances those influences, making something of her own that is more potent. Out of the three great directors mentioned, it is Bloody Sam’s violent territory that Pakzad pioneers with excellence.
"…Bella Thorne has arrived as a serious actress."
