It’s incredibly frustrating, to say the least, that the film industry still has so much work to do when it comes to supporting and promoting the work of female filmmakers. In fact, the industry continues to send the clear message that audiences don’t want to see stories from a female perspective told by female directors, and nothing could be farther from the truth. There are countless movies about women in distress, and how women feel about the situations they find themselves in, told by men, that could have been much more interesting if they were told from a woman’s viewpoint. A recent example of this unfortunate trend is the new thriller Tearsucker. The synopsis reads “emotionally vulnerable women are preyed on by a charming psychopath who wants to suck their tears.” Disappointingly, there is nothing new or thrilling about Tearsucker and the sexist sociopath profiled in the movie is anything but appealing.
Tearsucker was written by Sam Brittan (Redlands), who also plays a stalker named Tom, directed by Stephen Vanderpool (War Cake), and stars Allison Walter (SlashFM) as Lilly, a woman recovering from an abusive relationship. Lilly works from home and leads a solitary life, only attending Zoom meetings, and goes to the park each day to eat her lunch alone. Lilly is obviously depressed. One night, while facetiming with her best friend Deb (Danielle McRae Spisso), Lilly seems especially down and Deb suggests she consider reviving a video blog she used to have, as a way to process how she’s feeling. Lilly decides to take her friend’s advice and records a video of herself talking about how she’s having trouble coping with her life and previous relationship.
Lilly is pleasantly surprised when she receives numerous encouraging comments on her video and notices one comment from someone named Tom, who offers support if she needs to talk. Shockingly, Lilly doesn’t make a connection when she accidentally bumps into a friendly man named Tom the next time she’s at the park eating lunch. He just happens to be there to eat his lunch as well and once the two of them start talking they seem to have a lot in common. When Tom says something funny and Lilly laughs so hard, she cries, he offers her a handkerchief to wipe away her tears. Lilly tries to take the handkerchief with her so she can wash it before giving it back to him, but Tom insists it’s fine and quickly grabs it from her. She doesn’t really think anything of this interaction—in fact she’s rather smitten with Tom. She also doesn’t see him hungrily licking the handkerchief after she leaves, and after she’s already invited him to join her again for lunch in the park.
From the synopsis, one might hope Tearsucker would be a satire. What else could a movie about a guy who humiliates and insults women until they cry and then gets off by literally sucking their tears possibly be? Unfortunately, this movie takes itself and its misogynistic message all too seriously, and in the worst way possible. Lilly appears to be an intelligent woman, but the fact she ignores tons of red flags from Tom’s behavior and the inane things he says makes her character look like an idiot. Sadly, not even Allison Walter’s exceptional performance as Lilly can save this movie. To make matters worse, Tearsucker is dreadfully written. Tom uses a lot of phrases that could be considered cliché and some of the dialogue is frankly laughable. Lilly initially appears upset when Tom tells her he relates to androids because they’re empty on the inside, but five minutes later, she asks him for a hug. None of this makes sense.
The main takeaway from Tearsucker can be summed up by Whoopi Goldberg’s character from Ghost, “You in danger, girl.”
Tearsucker premiered virtually at the 2023 Chattanooga Film Festival. It will be available to rent/own on digital, as well on DVD, starting on July 7, 2023, through Freestyle Digital Media.
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