I'll be honest, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a film - short or full-length - quite like 'Still Wylde.' If there are other examples out there, I'd be very curious to see them.
This is a film about pregnancy, but it pointedly eschews elegance in the story it imparts. Young couple Gertie (Ingrid Haas) and Sam (Barry Rothbart) demonstrate a variety of initial emotional reactions that actively defy the harmful social norm that says pregnancy is or should be regaled as inherently perfect, happy, beautiful, and miraculous. That the couple gets past their immediate shock and is very receptive, and looks forward to welcoming a child, is more conventional. But then comes the turn. And there's the rub.
'Still Wylde' deals with a topic that is rarely - excruciatingly rarely - broached in stories. Its treatment is perhaps a little heavy-handed, but purposefully so, because this is a short with clear intent. It's direly important to recognize, broadly, how very ordinary this is, and how devastating it can be. That something so unfortunately natural, and common, is also tied into efforts to cut off the autonomy of pregnant people - well, that makes the message here all the more significant.
Writer-director Haas has created a wonderfully fulfilling short, at once heart-warming and heart-breaking - both unglamorous, and beautiful. And she inhabits her starring role as Gertie with such convincing, believable, lifelike turmoil that I can't believe her name isn't more immediately and widely recognized. I'm so impressed.
Even still, as much as the camera focuses on Gertie, one of the most stirring scenes in these 11 minutes is an interaction between the protagonist and a put-upon convenience store clerk. For all the emotional weight in 'Still Wylde' as a whole, this one scene alone carries more heft than much larger, more broadly acclaimed features can claim in their whole length. Juzo Yoshida, in that small but critical role as the unnamed clerk - given only a few sparing lines - holds in his countenance such incredible force of will that he handily matches the Haas' acting.
The content may prove difficult for viewers with their own history of troublesome pregnancy experiences, but otherwise it's so unexpectedly excellent in its craft that I frankly think it's a must-see. 'Still Wylde' may be only a short film, but it bears an engrossing narrative, crucial message, and level of skill that far exceeds its nature. Very much worth seeking out!
