Without

Without is a quiet but intriguing movie. I was intrigued by where it was going right until it ended. At that point, I was left rather unfulfilled.

Without is about the 19 year old Joslyn going to work as a caregiver for an old man on a rural island. The man’s family is going on vacation leaving Joslyn alone with the man, who is in a vegetative state. Because of the location, Joslyn has no wifi and limited cell service. Without much aspect for socialization, Joslyn begins to act out. She also puts minimal effort into her role as caregiver. Plagued by recent events involving her girlfriend who seems to have died, Joslyn begins feeling threatened and unsafe. She also begins to further act out, this time in a sexual manner.

The best thing about Without is how engaging it is. This is a quiet, small film with limited cast and settings. Despite this, it’s a film that intrigued me right off the bat. A big part of this is the directing. Director Mark Jackson films this very quiet story with a lot of angles and shots that are interesting without being a distraction. His use of focus and angles helps keep the film from feeling static while also being an excellent showcase for his talent and vision as a director.

The other important piece is lead actress Joslyn Jensen. This is a difficult role and she pulls it off with aplomb. Part of what is required of her is to be subtle and quiet yet engaging. She absolutely manages this. She’s also absolutely game for the stranger and more uncomfortable elements of the film which feature a lot of nudity and some emotional volatility. This is an incredibly impressive performance.

Without is largely good about giving backstory as well. The film is very much grounded in the present moment but offers breadcrumbs as to what happened before to make Joslyn act this was. This also means that while Joslyn’s sexuality is absolutely present in the film, it’s background noise. I always appreciate seeing a well-rounded LGBTQ* character where their character doesn’t begin and end with them being queer.

The issue with the film is Joslyn’s treatment of her vegetative charge. She goes from neglect to sexual abuse. Joslyn begins doing things like kissing him, stripping in front of him and lying with him in bed while nude. On the one hand, the film clears the bar of portraying this behaviour as not okay. Lesser movies might depict Joslyn’s behaviours as non-problematic because they’re being performed by an attractive young woman. Without doesn’t do that. It gets that this is not fine.

But much as Without understands the problem with this behaviour, it doesn’t understand the full gravitas. It became impossible for my to sympathize with Joslyn because she’s abusing a man in a vegetative state. However bad her life is, his is worse which she shows no empathy for. And at the end of the film, she gets away with it. The family never finds out she abused her charge, she has an emotional breakdown about lesser complaints and leaves. That’s how the movie ends. I really needed more follow through on the fact that she absolutely abused this man. Her getting away with it but achieving an emotional breakthrough was really unsatisfactory. Without didn’t seem to realize the full awfulness of what Joslyn did which makes her brief and largely happy ending feel frustrating.

The best part of Without is that it is intriguing and engaging. The worst part is that it doesn’t really amount to anything. Just when I expected the film to really kick off, it ended. So while it is a well directed and acted feature, I was left feeling unfulfilled. Additionally, there’s the fact that not enough weight was given to Joslyn sexually abusing her charge. That made me feel uncomfortable. But hey, at least it made me feel something.

Overall rating: 5.7/10

Other WLW films in similar genres