BIFF23 REVIEW: Only the Good Survive [20XX]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 92 minutes
Director(s): Dutch Southern
Writer(s): Dutch Southern

Sheriff Cole Mack (Frederick Weller) says it best when he stops the storyteller at the center of Dutch Southern’s Only the Good Survive to question whether what he’s hearing (and what we’re watching) is a comedy or a horror. Brea Dunlee (Sidney Flanigan) responds matter-of-factly that her tale is neither. It’s simply the truth. Except, of course, that it’s not. At least not objectively. She wasn’t really there for all of it. Her wild memories might have logical explanations. And there’s zero evidence to corroborate anything she’s said.

That’s exactly why this The Usual Suspects riff is so entertaining. If Mack can’t believe anything Brea says, neither can we. And the more we start to see alternative versions hypothetically unfold or witness a new romance-fueled embellishment accompanied by brightly animated drawings like those in her scrapbooked “family album,” the more we wonder if Brea can believe herself too. Because all they were supposed to do was steal a few priceless coins from an elderly couple while they weren’t home. A baby-sacrificing cult wasn’t part of the plan.

More than just letting Brea be an unreliable narrator, however, Southern writes Mack as provocation. He wants answers and he’s willing to shatter all illusions she might have about her boyfriend (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai’s Ry) and his tempestuous cohorts Erve (Will Ropp) and Dev (Darius Fraser). Maybe they were using her. Maybe fear has her seeing things that aren’t real. Maybe the shock of their deaths (presumed since Mack’s deputies have yet to find anyone else after she came running into the street screaming) has tilted her equilibrium.

The pieces eventually fall into place as perspective, intent, and time shift to ensure we know only what’s necessary for the next revelation to hit with maximum impact. It’s a quirky, witty script that moves at breakneck speed whenever anyone but Brea is talking so that each character gets their moment of cool, casual badassery to sell the idea that they are heroic regardless of intent or fate. That spotlit canonization coupled with the sheer absurdity of Brea’s account means everything (even Ry’s “red herring” shirt) is as much a distraction as crucial bit of context.