“Lockjaw” is a Wired Shut Anxiety Attack
Sabrina Greco explains that she made her newest film, Lockjaw, because she wanted to tell a story about a main character who was restrained for some reason. Despite that limitation, Greco wanted this character to be big, bold, and brash. It’s safe to say she achieved that with Lockjaw’s lead character. The film is restrained, both through the main character and the timing. Lockjaw takes place over the course of one night that begins with the simple desire to have a “fun night out.”
Six weeks ago, Rayna (Blu Hunt) was in a drunk-driving accident. The collision was her fault and her jaw was broken, which resulted in the current wired situation she’s in now. She can’t open her mouth and her words are barely understandable. Rayna regrets driving drunk and has since told her friends Mitch (Colin Burgess) and Noah (Kevin Grossman) that she’s now sober. In the weeks since the accident, Rayna and Mitch have started dating, which has shifted the trio’s dynamic. When Noah invites them to his magician friend’s (Nick Corirossi) show, everyone gets far more than they bargained for.
Courtesy of Lockjaw
The interpersonal dynamic between young people is a minefield. The individuals they’re drawn to the most are often the worst ones to associate with. With Mitch and Rayna, it’s fairly obvious from the outsider’s perspective that getting into a relationship at such a heightened moment in Rayna’s life is probably not the best idea for either of them. However, as anyone who has ever been a self-assured twenty-something will tell you, no outsider’s perspective matters. It’s all exacerbated by the fact that Noah is poking and prodding, pretending to be a concerned friend, but with his own ulterior motives. Ah, the perils of young love, friendship, and jealousy.
Lockjaw fits in beautifully with the self-coined genre of fuck up cinema. It’s movies like Lockjaw, Frances Ha, and Oh, Hi!, where the protagonists continue to make the worst possible choices because they’re young, a little dumb, and letting their emotions cloud their decisions. Everyone needs someone like Noah who, toward the end of the film, tells Rayna that what she needs is “someone to tell you that you fucked up.” He’s right, but he also has self-centered motivations of his own. Not that it matters, because that’s too true of a statement for Rayna to be able to process.
One of the defining characteristics of fuck up cinema is the duality that exists in a person in their twenties. It’s a time when they’re excessively confident and cripplingly insecure. It’s this dichotomy that leads people to spend a night at a magician’s home in the Hollywood Hills. A normal night doesn’t lead a person down this path. Lockjaw takes its limits and uses them as a strength, creating a pseudo bottle thriller about the cusp of adulthood.
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