Nashville Film Festival 2022: Acidman Just Plain Makes You Feel

"It's really the two powerhouse performances from Agron and Church that make this one such an emotional watch. You feel as invested in this relationship as they do."

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The tension and pain are palpable in Acidman, a straightforward drama with a little sci-fi vibes sprinkled on top of it. As soon as I read the description for this flick, and saw that it featured one of the most criminally underrated actors out there, Thomas Haden Church, I knew it was one I had to see as apart of the 2022 Nashville Film Festival. It screened at TPAC on Saturday, October 1st, but I was out in Franklin that day catching a couple of screenings at The Franklin Theatre. I didn’t know that I would’ve made it out of Spirit Halloween: The Movie and gotten downtown, parked, and settled in within the hour between screenings. So, an advanced screener, it was.

In Acidman, we meet Maggie (Dianna Agron), who is making the effort to reconnect with her father (Church), despite a clear rift between the two that suggests some major old hurt. Maggie expresses concern not only for her father’s health, but also his dedication to communicating with beings outside of our realm – that’s right…aliens. The more we learn about these two, the more gripping the movie becomes.

Look, you won’t get a big spiraling plot in this one. It is as character driven as character driven can be, and it’s straight to the point. But, it’s really the two powerhouse performances from Agron and Church that make this one such an emotional watch. You feel as invested in this relationship as they do. I chuckled. I teared up. I felt compelled to shoot my mother a text just to see how she was doing!

The questions and the range of emotions this film explores were deeply affective. At what point do you try to reconnect with an estranged loved one? How do you approach the topic of old pain? What do you do when you can’t get the answers you want? How do you encourage change when you know someone’s lifestyle is unhealthy? What do you do with that conspiracy theorist relative who is just flat out into some really bizarre shit? How do you move on? What can you do to keep your hurt from defining who you are? There’s just so much deep emotional prodding in Acidman that it makes it one of those films you just plain feel.

A crisp little run time of an hour and 27 minutes certainly helped. I also really appreciated the effective use of silence in this move. Not only did it enhance the feelings of loneliness and tension, but it also really let that pain hang there in the air once it was out. Acidman just may be my “best of the fest” this year. It’s simple – you just watch and feel, baby. That’s what it’s all about.

For more on the Nashville Film Festival, follow them on Twitter and check out their website here.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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