‘The Carnivores’ and a third-wheeling dog — SXSW movie review

The Carnivores follows Alice, whose strain with her long-term girlfriend Bret is being manifested in her sick dog causing increasingly odd cravings

With SXSW 2020 canceled, I’m doing my best to help review as many of the features that would have premiered there, particularly those of first-time filmmakers. If you know of a film that needs support, let me know!

From the start, you can tell there’s something offbeat about The Carnivores. It’s set in a normal suburb — filmed in SXSW’s home Austin — and the characters are just a normal couple. However, its idiosyncrasy quickly reveals itself to you — the dry humor, the absurdist storyline, and almost whimsical imagery. It’s all in service of a ridiculous narrative that sets its sights on long-term relationships and the insecurities that come along with them.

Alice (Tallie Medel), a doe-eyed bank teller, and her girlfriend Bret (The Invitation‘s Lindsay Burge) have been together for years. However, when we meet them there is clearly a strain represented by Bret’s beloved dog Harvey. In Alice’s eyes, she’s second to Harvey in both Bret’s time and affection — and that might actually be the case, at least from what director Caleb Johnson shows us. Then again, we are watching from Alice’s perspective.

We watch as Alice calculates the costs of Harvey’s expensive treatment — that at best will keep him alive for a few months — and keeps track of the nights she and Bret don’t have sex. They’re experiencing what many long-term partners experience, intimate strain and financial burden. However, in their case, there is a physical manifestation of that strain, Harvey.

Alice spends her days fantasizing of ways of getting rid of him while Bret dotingly cares for him, even risking her job at times. Alice’s hate begins to manifest itself as a bleak desire for meat — they’re both vegetarians. The visceral shots of Alice going to the meat aisle in a grocery store to feel the meet or lay a leftover cold cut on Bret to lick it immediately bring up thoughts of Julia Ducournau’s Raw, just less depraved.

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The movie is a swift 77 minutes that sometimes feel meandering, but never boring as Alice’s cravings grow more intense. It’s difficult to even categorize what genre the movie is in as elements of psychological thriller, horror, comedy, and drama jockey for the tone. However, that whimsical amalgamation is what makes The Carnivores so engrossing.

Medel finds an endearing quality with Alice that makes you empathize with her struggles. Anyone that has been in a long-term relationship can understand the block that often forms at some point when routine turns into distance. She keeps you so captivated with her dry delivery and bewilderment at even her own feelings. If anything, I think her performance tips the movie a little too far into her direction making scenes with Bret less successful.

The Carnivores is a visceral experience. It’s less plot-driven and more an exploration of emotions and feelings — Johnson based it on his own relationship. You can feel him thinking and grappling as the movie goes along — it may leave something to be desires — but his style and exciting voice are something I’m looking forward to seeing more of.