Chestnut

I am fully aware that had I seen Chestnut earlier in my WLW film journey, I might have given it a higher mark. If I’d seen Chestnut when I’d seen a mere 300 WLW films, perhaps I would have awarded it a mixed review. But I’ve seen twice that number by now. And Chestnut offers no novelty with its story nor does it offer a particularly high quality version of said story.

Following graduation from college, Annie is your classic 20-something still trying to figure it all out. She meets a woman named Tyler who adds further confusion. Tyler and Annie kiss sometimes, especially when they’re intoxicated. And Annie seems to feel pretty strongly towards her. But there’s also a man in Tyler’s life, Danny. Danny and Tyler’s relationship is also not strictly defined. Danny is also a nicer, steadier person than Tyler is. So sometimes, he and Annie hang out alone too. All in all, it’s a messy youthful love triangle strung along by everyone’s refusal to communicate or define anything.

In some ways, I might be the wrong audience for Chestnut by being too much of the right audience. This story of a bisexual young person love triangle is not remotely fresh to me. But that’s a huge bias as I spend my days watching queer cinema. The additional fact that I am close to the same age as the characters is a factor too. A reason this story doesn’t feel fresh is because I’ve seen it play out in real life more than once. And those real life versions of the story were simply more than what Chestnut gave me. Essentially, I have little use for this specific narrative. Though I don’t deny that perhaps people who aren’t 20-something women who watch sapphic movies for a hobby may find Chestnut has more to offer them, especially in terms of novelty.

Chestnut’s story is just too thin to carry a feature film.There is neither a great deal of notable events nor is there particularly in-depth character work. Thematically, I don’t know if the film has much new to add to the bisexual love triangle subgenre. And on an individual character basis, none of these characters feel unique or particularly deep. This also affects how I simply don’t care about any of these people or their love triangle. Chestnut does utilize a pretty visual. There’s a lot of colour-drenched lighting of characters at nightclubs and whatnot. It’s nice to look at and all, but not enough to distract from how thin the story is. If anything, sometimes it draws attention to it. I don’t know if any event in this film really warrants some heavily dramatic red light. This isn’t a giallo or something, it’s just some miscommunication.

Personally, I want my bisexual love triangle narratives to be bigger. I want those love triangles to get messy enough that they destroy people by mere association. I want someone to commit a crime. Chestnut is really just about a bisexual love triangle that hurts Annie’s feelings. And because Annie isn’t a well enough realized character, I’m not overly invested in her romantic misadventures. Chestnut is ultimately too unremarkable of a film to do anything for me.

Overall rating: 4.7/10

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