Ladyworld, directed by Amanda Kramer and written by Amanda Kramer and Benjamin Shearn, follows a group of eight teenage girls, who become trapped after an earthquake. What started as a birthday celebration becomes a fight to maintain their sanity. Ladyworld stars Ariela Barer, Annalise Basso, Ryan Simpkins, Odessa Adlon, Maya Hawke, Tatsumi Romano, Zora Casebere, and Atheena Frizzell, who all give remarkable performances as the girls attending the birthday party. Each performance captures what sets these friends apart from each other. Noel David Taylor appears as the man the girls think they see throughout the film.
As the film progresses, each character loses pieces of their sanity, while also revealing who they are as people, and what they really think of their so-called friends. Ladyworld is inspired by Lord of the Flies, and this comes through when the group of teenagers factions into groups fighting against each other. Instead of working together to find a way out, the girls form smaller groups, and harm everyone else in their personal goals of survival and obtaining power over everyone else.
Sound and Tension
The sound design in Ladyworld felt overbearing at times, but it also helped build a tense and mind-bending world. The constant cacophony of sound works to establish a sense of dread. Watching these characters lose their sanity, as I also heard endless repetitions of distressing groans and chants, made me feel in place with the characters on screen.
I felt like my sanity was under just as much stress as the girls fighting against themselves to establish dominance in their newfound world entirely confined to a buried house. At certain moments, I felt like the music was too much. It was overpowering, but at the same time, these moments helped build a tension in me as I continued watching the film.
Ladyworld took sound design and repetition to new levels. In some ways, the music in Ladyworld creates the dread in scenes, but it doesn’t feel out of place here. I didn’t feel like the sound was replacing fear that should be shown. The music and endless string of sounds built up the performances, and helped show the dread that was already in the scenes, no matter how ordinary they might have seemed. The more I think about it, the overbearing nature of the sound created an atmosphere of dread, repeating inside my head, as the film continued.
If Ladyworld didn’t use its music and sound effects through so much of the film, I might not have felt as much of a sense of dread, or a fear of each character’s sanity. Hearing chants, music, and rumbles bubble up over every scene put me in the room with these teenage girls. Ladyworld captures the intensity its characters are facing in such a completely realized way, you can’t passively experience it. Every sound brings you closer to the world these characters face in every scene.
Power Struggles and Teenage Life
This film balances the Lord of the Flies inspired power struggles with the struggles of teenage life. Many of the girls in Ladyworld fight to obtain as much power as possible. In between moments of dread and otherworldly sound effects, each character is given moments of personal reflection and character development. Their personalities are painted against this new world, as well as reflecting who they might have been before the disastrous birthday party. Ryan Simpkins gives a wonderful performance as Dolly, one of the characters I felt the most invested in throughout the film, and the one who made me wonder how the group became friends.
The struggle for power among the teenage girls in Ladyworld reminded me of another independent film I’ve seen focusing on women in a group fighting among themselves to establish power. That film is Kansas Bowling’s B.C. Butcher, which she directed and wrote when she was a teenager. The film is comedic in tone, yet captures similar feelings about girlhood and reactions to tense situations.
I felt a similar identity in these two films. Ladyworld and B.C. Butcher share similar backgrounds as independent genre films directed and written by women, but they use their unique visions to capture feminine relationships in completely different ways. Ladyworld captures these themes through a tense film, filled with moments where I felt fully enraptured in the world and the damages every character had to face.
Both films bring a women’s voice into the genre film, especially in their exploration of women and how each character reacts differently to conflict. Both films explore femininity and the struggles of remaining friends in harsh realities.
Ladyworld manages to capture the perfect balance between the moments of tension and uneasiness with moments of teenage life. Seeing teenage girls having fun and engaging in typical slumber party antics makes those moments of dread and dissolution of sanity that much stronger, and more challenging to watch. This film captures this descent into madness in such a realistic way. Every performance works to capture the differing personalities and reactions to conflict of every character.
Ladyworld: Conclusion
Ladyworld captures the tension of being trapped somewhere with the uncomfortable realness of teenage friendships being put to the test. Every performance brings the dread and differences between each character to the foreground. Ladyworld works because it never feels safe, even when exploring traditional slumber party activities. Every aspect of this film challenges its viewers, and shows just how far people will go to feel in control. Ladyworld works well as a women-centric Lord of the Flies, especially since it does not skim over realistic moments of the friends before everything changes. The balance between moments of inescapable dread and realistic moments of teenagers acting like teenagers makes the dark moments feel that much more intense.
Are you interested in seeing a film about teenage girls inspired Lord of the Flies? If you have seen Ladyworld, do you think it accurately captures the struggles of teenage friendships? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Ladyworld releases in theaters in the US on August 2, 2019. For all international release dates, see here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5GEC67JHTk
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