Directed by Rebecca Eskreis and written by Seana Kofoed, who also stars in the film, a grieving woman uses her virtual reality therapy to exact revenge on her former friends. Starring: Rebecca Creskoff, Toks Olagundoye, Jessica Meraz, Rob Benedict, Kadeem Hardison, Jenn Lyon, Matt Peters and Alec Mapa.
Could getting out your anger and resentment in a virtual reality revenge tour be a healthy way to expend all that negative energy? Well, that’s what ClearMind is here to explore. What’s interesting about that is there’s two sides to it, firstly the entertainment, playing out a virtual vengeful scenario gives Nora (Rebecca Creskoff) free rein to do whatever comes into her head and it’s a lot of fun. Seana Kofoed’s writing really embraces the comedic, sarcastic side of things and focuses on giving the audience a good time, rather than getting its feet tangled in trying to overcomplicate its edge of mystery.
The second side is that there’s actually some relevant points at work behind its vengeance. Touching upon having selfish, demanding friends who don’t add to your life, damaging your self-worth and that they need to be expunged. As well as the idea of not letting yourself take responsibility for everything when you weren’t the one at fault. It’s all bubbling in the background while the foreground gets to grips with its darker side. There’s something to it that’s almost reminiscent of 2008’s Baghead.
Those two sides work really well in part because of Rebecca Eskreis’ direction, it plays things on a dramatic note. It doesn’t lean too far either way, it lands nicely on solid ground, bringing through an extra edge here or there of darkness or humour, when the story calls for it. It has a great consistent quality, it’s got a captivating atmosphere from start to finish and it constantly has a tone of lingering questions. It creates that sort of: we know what happened but then again, do we really? Type of feel, which keeps its layer of mystery alive.
Another aspect which is undoubtedly a boost to those qualities is the ensemble because their performances truly make you wonder how self-involved or toxic these characters actually are. With the exception of Matt Peters’ very reliably blunt and apathetic performance as David, who is completely open about how much he only cares about himself. Toks Olagundoye gives us that classically particular and image-obsessed woman who uses her husband like a doormat. Jessica Meraz is enjoyable as the religion centric outsider of the group with a lot of unsolicited advice.
Whereas Rob Benedict and Kadeem Hardison fall more on the well-intentioned, if somewhat flawed category, trying to nudge things in the right direction but don’t quite have the backbone to see it through. Writer, Kofoed gives a great performance as Kate, massively in denial about her issues which does a really nice job of feeding into film’s sense of humour.
Jenn Lyon’s Lily is very interesting, there’s a lot of confidence and it almost encroaches on a femme-fatale feel, implying that there’s more to her than we’re seeing, which is engaging to watch. Then you have the catalyst of it all in Rebecca Creskoff’s Nora, she’s unapologetic, absolutely fed up and ready to right some wrongs. She really captures the film’s fun side and the strength and fierceness she brings to the role is effortless to watch.
ClearMind is an indie gem, taking your classic revenge tale down a fresh road. It has a surprisingly satisfying sense of humour and is genuinely entertaining with a nicely growing tension. There’s a superb cast at work with a lot of familiar faces, making for a big variety of personalities. It has a fantastic sadistic side and Rebecca Eskreis and Seana Kofoed create an excellent blend of genres, making for a really good time.
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