The ethos with which to approach polymath Grace Glowicki’s triumphant Dead Lover is to think about what Violet says about fairy tales in 9 to 5: “gruesome and horrible and real gory. But also kinda cute.” That absolutely applies here, as a lonely gravedigger (Glowicki) spends her days shoveling the dead around, working with the earth to keep our most putrescent of secrets. She just wants to be loved, but her work has marked her as a nasal memento mori, and people don’t know how to handle that. Desire can stink. That’s just how bodies can be.
And when the gravedigger does find someone who is absolutely game to match her freak, it’s kind of lovely in a most disgusting way. Glowicki may be the only person whose way of saying the word “lover” could succeed the late, great Christina Amphlett. If there were any justice, distributors Cartuna x Dweck would find a way to get us a gravedigger voice option for Waze, because I would absolutely download that.
Glowicki and her supporting cast have got moxie to spare, with each of the cast of four playing multiple roles, using astonishing costume and design work in a very theatrical staging. There’s Kate Bush, Derek Jarman, Monty Python and Ken Russell vibes all over the place, and absolute tonal perfection. There are definite Shakespearean play-within-a-play vibes, both in its Pirandellian sense of narrative and in its shambly sense of playfulness. And you’ve never seen anything like it, especially when magic and mad science come into play. You have to go back to 2017’s Dave Made a Maze to find this kind of relentless madcap creativity.
But even putting all of this aside, Dead Lover works because you want the gravedigger to be happy. She’s spiky and defines her own glam, and you can’t really blame her for wanting to be loved in spite of being a literal reminder of the looming grave that awaits us all. Take that journey, won’t you?
Dead Lover will screen Monday, April 27, with an opening set from U.S. Girls, who composed the film’s score.
