Sharp Stick (2022)

Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film FestivalThe story is about Sarah Jo who is a naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her mother and sister. She just longs to be seen. When she begins an affair with her older employer, she is thrust into an education on sexuality, loss and power. Director Lena Durham has become quite a figure with her controversies and there are some things she had said that I thought were quite terrible or I simply disagree with. Her first feature was “Tiny Furniture” which I thought was fun and decent. Durham does have talent to write and have some funny moments with her style. “Sharp Stick” however, I don’t even know what happened here.Durham seemed to create a story about sex and youth, yet, takes those concepts and make a huge mess. The story comes off incredibly idiotic and annoying like if someone is trying to smash a hammer across your head as you are bleeding from the eyes and skull. The actors are all talented but the characters they are given makes them really unbearable and really punchable at times. Many conversations and dialogue were came off pretentious and all over the place as if Durham had no idea what she was wanting to say to or to present in this movie.What is the point? Why are we meant to like this character? Does Durham really lost her sense of purpose or was she drunk making this? Because it did feel like a drunk a person would make this such a mess of a movie.