Vanilla Analysis

Vanilla (2019)

Written and Directed by: Will Dennis

This is an independent film, and it's made with limited resources, the film is shot on an A7SII and with limited crew - just like the films of the Mumblecore movement and yet it never felt that any more money would've made the film any better. The "imperfections" feel like a part of the tone and the world of the film - you don't need a Fincher-esque precision in the camera movement or shot in T/1.3 while telling a story like this. I'm not saying that I don't like films with such precision (I'm a huge fan of Fincher), it's the kind of story that supports this sort of laidback filmmaking. 

The writing and the acting is so good - after watching all of his shorts available on his Vimeo, I can say that Will Dennis has a unique writing style - he takes the contemporary conversations that people have about acceptance, inclusivity, feminism, veganism; and he doesn't rigidly take a stance for or against any of them - but he just points out weird things about them and writes around them. All of his work is based around this, and it's so interesting. Vanilla is about acceptance, and it talks about how acceptance is easy only in theory. I liked that he didn't have a character arc in the film, where he accepts her by the end - because it happening soon (or even forever) is probably not realistic. 

The film works because there is tension and conflict throughout the film, most of which is created through secrets, their revelations and the confrontations - whether it's about her being a camgirl, them selling the truck to his ex-girlfriend, she telling his ex about them having sex, etc. Her character is simplistic and yet layered, they establish her by a characteristic where she doesn't like people buying her things, and she doesn't want to be told what to do and what not to - she has authority issues, and yet she is a camgirl where she literally is controlled by another person - since she does that for the money, she doesn't let that happen outside of the camworld. I loved the scene where she gives him some money, breaks the glass and walks.