Movie Review: Drop

The second film I went to see in theaters this past Monday.

The story

Violet Gates (Meghann Fahy), a therapist living in Chicago, helps women who have freed themselves from toxic, abusive relationships. She does it from a place of understanding and compassion, as she has suffered in the past from such a relationship with the father of her child. But she's finally getting back into the dating scene, ready to meet someone new. She leaves her 5yo son Toby to be babysat by her younger sister Jen (Violett Beane), and she leaves for her date.

The location? The Palate, a fancy restaurant located on a high floor of a building. The date? A charming photographer by the name of Henry Campbell (Brandon Sklenar). Several more people are introduced, like Matt the waiter, Cara the bartender, Phil the sleazy in-house pianist, and some of the fellow patrons in the establishment that night. Henry is only a few minutes late.

The date begins well, but Violet receives drops on her Digi-Drop app of multiple custom memes telling her she's going to have a bad night. These get increasingly threatening, and she shows them to her date until she's contacted by a mysterious Let's_Play who tells her not to tell anybody, and especially not Henry, about what's going on.

The anonymous user, who has to be in the restaurant due to Digi-Drop's functionality (think a fictionalized version of Apple's AirDrop), is watching her from the restaurant's security cameras and spying on her with microphones. The text messages tell her to check her house's cameras using her apps, which is when she sees a figure in a balaclava has broken in. If the user's requests start out worrisome, they only get worse over time. ...all the way up to asking her to murder Henry by slipping poison in his drink... And if she doesn't, the masked man might kill her sister and/or her son instead...

The review

This film, directed by Christopher Landon, is a master class in suspense and thriller. Its concept alone implies several things that are tricky to do in a film: First, an extremely short timeframe, practically real-time (most of the film is set during the date). Second, a film where a lot of scenes involve text messages (which are shown on the screen added to the shot compositions - and, for French speakers like me, they aren't subtitled, they do appear in French on the screen, exactly where the English text would be in the original version!). Third, a closed circle story (since Violet is not allowed to leave the restaurant as long as the stalker's demands keep going). And finally, a whodunnit on top of everything else, since part of the story is Violet trying to find who is sending her these messages - and her means of doing so are limited, precisely because she's always watched and heard, and she knows it.

The serious topic of abuse is a constant throughout, showing how much damage it does to victims even after they've escaped. We also have strong themes of cyberstalking and technology dependence. It IS a story where much happens through the characters' phones, after all. The whodunnit (...whosent-it?) keeps the viewer guessing; the tagline doesn't lie, "everyone's a suspect". Everyone around her, patrons and employees alike, are shown regularly using their smartphones, and thus any answer seems possible until clues point towards the true culprit. And to not just a personal attack, but a full-on conspiracy.

Everyone's acting is great here. Fahy as someone with a troubled past, a desire to move past it, but getting trapped in a situation that appears impossible to resolve. Sklenar as the well-meaning date, unaware of much of what's going on. Everyone else acting exactly as they should in the situation, further inviting question about them.

It's such a stressful movie, yet so much of it works. The plot does feel exaggerated down the line, some twists and turns don't fully add up, but that can be forgiven. Personally, I love that the cinematography takes advantage of the closed circle to do effects with lighting or display - like a moment where the security camera footage from Violet's home appears on a wall so we can see it, though she's only watching it from her phone screen.

A legit great thriller and exactly the kind of movie I love to recommend. Do check it out if you get the chance.