Ringolevio

When David Lynch depicted his fears of meeting a partner’s family on film, he made the dinner scene in Eraserhead. A nightmareish, yet darkly funny interpretation of reality presented in Lynch’s classic, surrealist style. Ringolevio takes a much more straightforward and literal path in depicting the inherent awkwardness of meeting your partner’s family. Yeah, I think this is the first and last time anyone is going to mention this movie in the same breath as David Lynch.

Ada likes bugs and apparently, she’s socially awkward. She’s spending her first Easter holiday with her partner, Marissa’s family. Marissa’s family consists of three brothers. Of course, Marissa and her siblings have a specific dynamic that Ada can’t quite break into or understand. This causes moments of awkwardness and Ada to feel left out. Her attempts at fitting in often come at the cost of Marissa, who takes several of these attempts as some sort of slight against her.

This is a very literal movie. It’s about a woman having a bad time with her partner’s family. This is depicted through scenes of that happening. Not just literal, but there’s realism here too. Ringolevio never descends into heavy dramatics or wacky moments. All the events of the film are totally plausible. This makes the film totally boring. There’s no real build of tension nor any notable moment in the third act. It’s just a woman not enjoying her long weekend because she’s not involved in her girlfriend’s family dynamics.

Ada’s social awkwardness is not portrayed very well. It’s also possible that I am socially awkward too and between me and this fictional character, we’re just sort of cancelling each other out. But I don’t understand Ada’s point of view or if she’s making social blunders. What Ada does seems more or less fine and normal. And the way people respond to her also seems more or less fine and normal. There’s a moment where Marissa says her legs hurt, Ada questions that plural and Marissa corrects that her leg hurts. This turns into an argument that doesn’t go anywhere and gets interrupted. I just don’t understand what the point of any of that dialogue was.

Really, the problem in the movie seems to be Wren, one of Marissa’s brothers. he’s kind of a dick and seems to have a drinking problem. This could be a good concept for a story too, but it’s not one Ringolevio really takes. Overall, the movie lacks focus. It often feels like the three brothers are the lead. And then there’s Marissa and of course, Ada. That’s too many characters to try and present equally. And especially as Ada is the quietest one, she’s the one who often gets the short shrift, despite allegedly being the protagonist. Especially when films have an introverted or awkward protagonist, I think a focus on that protagonist’s point of view is important to maintain. Ringolevio doesn’t do this.

Mostly, I just found Ringolevio tedious. The realism and subtlety of how they tell this story tips right over into dullness. If I want to watch a socially awkward lesbian have a long weekend where some good stuff happens, some bad stuff happens and not much really changes, I’ll just pull out a mirror the next time I get a Friday off of work. At no point does the film justify why we should spend 80 minutes of our lives with any of these people.

Overall rating: 3.3/10

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