[Review] SXSW: Don't Go Where I Can't Find You
Haunting and chaotic in its portrayal of the psychosis that comes with grief, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You is a unique ghost story sure to chill you to the bone. We had the opportunity to screen the short virtually as part of the SXSW Film Festival. Tormented by the spirits and secrets that linger in her house, Freya falls to her death. Her partner Margaret, a composer haunted by her loss, becomes obsessed with composing a piece to draw out the spirits in the house. The film is a uniquely moving and frightful queer horror story of lingering pain, trauma and grief.
Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You stars Marie Ruane (Margaret), Juliette Crosbie (Louise) and Stephanie Dufresne (Freya). Written and directed by Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair—an award-winning writer, director and producer from Dublin, Ireland— the film emphasizes the power of music and art to communicate with the dead. Margaret writes three movements of a suite “in memory of the dead” to cope with the loss of her lover, but not before she spirals into madness. She attempts to invoke the dead and believes that only music has the power to open doorways in the physical world from the spiritual plane. The musical notes plucked at my anxiety, and I wondered if the doorway were to open, what might emerge from it.
Music is at the heart of the film, with a score written by Ergodos Musicians, Garret Sholdice and Benedict Schlepper Connolly. Together, they create a melancholy atmosphere with the score that reveals Margaret’s journey of emotions—giving weight to the auditory experience of the film. Margaret obsessively replays the moment of Freya’s death, the loud sound of her body hitting the floor is enough to induce nightmares. Disturbing sounds emanate from the house alongside the dark and undulating score, filling the space with intentional and raw emotion.
Margaret’s experience is overwhelmingly painful, but one that is easy to resonate with if you’ve ever suffered the loss of someone you love. The wholly immersive experience is set amidst, as Rioghnach puts it, “an essentially feminine space with a stylish 1970s tinged elegance.” The cinematography was strikingly beautiful along with the care given to each set piece. Director of Photography Evan Barry created the space with inspiration from films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and films from directors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pedro Almodóvar and Dario Argento.
Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You is a stunning portrait of losing someone you love suddenly and the anguish of leaving things unsaid and unresolved. If you aren’t left haunted, you need only to listen to find the horrors that hide through unseen doorways in the dark. The film will linger with you long after it ends.