SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Director-writer Sabrina Greco’s film Lockjaw presents a raw look at a young woman dealing with the consequences of a mistake. Rayna (Blu Hunt) is out partying with friends one night, becomes profoundly inebriated, and subsequently crashes her car. She’s injured and has to have her jaw wired shut. She is determined not to allow this to impact her social life, so six weeks after the crash, she rejoins the world of parties and hangs, despite not being able to open her mouth nor speak clearly.
Mitch (Colin Burgess) is looking after her, and they are living together while she recovers, but she continues to tell people they are not in a relationship. Their opportunistic a*****e acquaintance Noah (Kevin Grossman) brings them to smarmy Robert’s (Nick Corirossi) magic show. The act is a cold-reading roast of people in a bar. They wind up going back to Robert’s place to hang out, where the whole situation is tuned for maximum cringe.
“…drives drunk and subsequently crashes her car, winding up with her jaw wired shut…”
Rayna finds Mitch boring. Despite promising Mitch she wouldn’t drink, she sneaks booze into her bag in a syringe so she can drink with her jaw wired. When Mitch has had enough of the party, he leaves Rayna with the other three at Robert’s house. Since Mitch has been serving as Rayna’s translator, she is at a disadvantage once he’s gone. Annabelle (Sally Sum) comes back to the house with Mitch to pick up Rayna, causing Rayna to respond with rage and jealousy.
Rayna is a chaos monkey bent on flinging poo around the enclosure. Eventually, she propositions Robert in the bathroom at his house. She is desperate for any kind of attention, and the people around her are either apathetically ineffectual or actually predatory. Robert’s wife Cleo (Ally Davis) turns the night into performance art. The interesting note about these characters is that while Rayna is the one who can’t speak clearly, none of them are good at articulating their feelings or intentions. They all lack a certain amount of empathy for others while playing out a script in their own minds about what is happening. The interactions are stiff and superficial.
Burgess delivers Mitch with a scarily accurate impression of Michael Cera… close your eye,s and you’ll hear it. Hunt leads the film energetically, despite, or perhaps because of, having her mouth wired shut… she’s still talkative and occasionally coherent. The decision to have the lead actress unable to speak clearly leads to a fascinating set of situations and complications. It’s a bold choice.
The film progresses slowly, with tortured conversations spinning out at a leisurely pace, with everyone talking past each other. It’s a shoe-gaze version of an ensemble drawing room play, and entertaining watching these social structures crumble in slow motion.
Lockjaw screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…entertainment comes from watching these social structures crumble in slow motion."
