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| Scene from Never Goin' Back |
In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for years to come.
Released: August 3, 2018
Release Number: 71
Directed By: Augustine Frizzell
Starring: Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone, Liz Cardenas
Plot: Jessie and Angela, high school dropouts, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent's due, they're about to get fired, and they're broke.
The summer of A24 was reaching its end with Hot Summer Nights which found a recent Oscar nominee (Timothee Chalamet) starring in a fun take on a relationship that fell apart as they sold drugs. The studio's next film featured a different kind of friendship falling apart, only this time it was with a local community. Never Goin' Back was director Augustine Frizzell's (wife of fellow A24 collaborator David Lowery of A Ghost Story) debut and featured her telling an autobiographical story of two dumb teenagers trying to leave town for the sweet life of California. The major difference was that unlike most A24 films, this was going to be a gross-out stoner comedy full of juvenile humor and poor decisions. While one wouldn't think that this lends itself well to the studio's brand, it helped to show that no story was too weird (or gross) to tell, especially during the summer months.
The story begins with Frizzell's youth. As an adult, she would be the first to admit that she wishes to be open about her past in hopes that it would educate future generations to be smarter about their choices. However, that's because she considers her actions as a teenager to be more in line with criminal acts and vandalism that were cool at the time but didn't reflect highly on her. When writing her film, she wished to show it correctly, where each punishment was not rewarded with some moral lesson. She also pulled heavily from her own personal diary, which she wrote as a kid to highlight her various misdeed. Once she had those notes, she tried to make a film version of it around 2008 but found her doubting herself as a filmmaker. In return, she took many years to learn that she needed to trust her instinct before taking another crack at things.
Still, she was attracted to the idea of making it a juvenile comedy where women were presented as gross. She felt that the patriarchy had long made an unfair line in the sand about how dirty women could get. By having that in place, she pulled from her own memories and went about making what would become Never Goin' Back in southern Texas. She interviewed dozens of actresses for the lead roles, often through Skype, until she found Maia Mitchell and Camilla Morrone. Morrone, in particular, took a shining to Frizzell's approach to writing and sought out the part. When the director saw how well the two collaborated with each other, she was quick to pick them for the lead roles. Similarly, she did a week of rehearsals with the cast to get an understanding of how things would be done. The first practice scene with cameras was the bedroom scene that opens the film, which Frizzell believed was done so accurately that it could've been filmed during rehearsals without a single change.
The ending, in particular, was selected from a series of endings that Frizzell had thought of. One of her original takes involved robbing the central grocery store. These were all moments pulled from her youth, though she feared including some because of how unrealistic they seemed for being too outrageous. The final scene took a few days to film and included having to figure out how the six-foot-tall elderly actor could faint without injuring himself during a central vomit scene. They got it worked out. The music was done by Sarah Jaffe, who composed a lot of the original music for the film in order to help give it authenticity. During production, Frizzell would use playlists for the actors to help them get a sense of each scene. However, most of the songs (which included The Cocteau Twins) couldn't be used for copyright reasons. Still, she was impressed with how much of the film worked otherwise.
There have since been talks of Frizzell releasing the book that inspired Never Goin' Back. Considering how open she is about her past, she doesn't consider any criticism about the bad behavior of the characters to be a negative reflection on her. Still, she admires them because of what they represented in her life. Following completion and editing, she submitted the film to Sundance Film Festival where it screened. Days before, she got a deal with A24 for distribution rights believing that Mitchell and Morrone gave phenomenal performances. Along with producer Lowery, the film was worked on in the marketing phase with Frizzell down to what colors would be used on the poster. The director has claimed many times that she loves A24 and considers it "my studio" because they always release the best movies.
The film was released on August 3, 2018 to fairly positive reviews and low box office numbers. The film currently holds a healthy 76% rating on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Katie Walsh of Los Angeles Times lead the positive reviews when noting that "Anchored by a pair of effervescent and authentically lived-in performances from Mitchell and Morrone, Never Goin' Back is a sweaty, silly summer adventure, and a sincere shout-out to the power of best friendship." Caitlin Quinlan of CineVue was also positive on the film by suggesting that "The comedy in the film is oftentimes predictable, but it mostly works for such a short and sweet production." James Berardinelli of ReelViews was one of the few who disagreed when claiming "Augustine Frizzell's debut forces us to spend nearly 90 minutes in the company of two unbearably dumb protagonists."
While the film was at best a mild success, it was enough to prove that A24 was able to make gross-out comedies that got positive attention. While it's too early as of this writing to know what Frizzell's next project is, she has gone on to direct the pilot episode for HBO's controversial new teen comedy Euphoria. It's safe to say that she has a niche of exploring the life of rude teenagers and making them palatable to audiences. Who knows what lies next for her, especially if it's another personal story of entertaining yet dumb decisions. Up next is another true story featuring people who have been to prison. Only this time it's a lot darker and more disturbing than a silly little comedy. A Prayer Before Dawn is a film about a boxer fighting in tournaments. Is it as good as Frizzell's little comedy? Only time will tell on that one.
Up Next: A Prayer Before Dawn (2018)
The summer of A24 was reaching its end with Hot Summer Nights which found a recent Oscar nominee (Timothee Chalamet) starring in a fun take on a relationship that fell apart as they sold drugs. The studio's next film featured a different kind of friendship falling apart, only this time it was with a local community. Never Goin' Back was director Augustine Frizzell's (wife of fellow A24 collaborator David Lowery of A Ghost Story) debut and featured her telling an autobiographical story of two dumb teenagers trying to leave town for the sweet life of California. The major difference was that unlike most A24 films, this was going to be a gross-out stoner comedy full of juvenile humor and poor decisions. While one wouldn't think that this lends itself well to the studio's brand, it helped to show that no story was too weird (or gross) to tell, especially during the summer months.
The story begins with Frizzell's youth. As an adult, she would be the first to admit that she wishes to be open about her past in hopes that it would educate future generations to be smarter about their choices. However, that's because she considers her actions as a teenager to be more in line with criminal acts and vandalism that were cool at the time but didn't reflect highly on her. When writing her film, she wished to show it correctly, where each punishment was not rewarded with some moral lesson. She also pulled heavily from her own personal diary, which she wrote as a kid to highlight her various misdeed. Once she had those notes, she tried to make a film version of it around 2008 but found her doubting herself as a filmmaker. In return, she took many years to learn that she needed to trust her instinct before taking another crack at things.
Still, she was attracted to the idea of making it a juvenile comedy where women were presented as gross. She felt that the patriarchy had long made an unfair line in the sand about how dirty women could get. By having that in place, she pulled from her own memories and went about making what would become Never Goin' Back in southern Texas. She interviewed dozens of actresses for the lead roles, often through Skype, until she found Maia Mitchell and Camilla Morrone. Morrone, in particular, took a shining to Frizzell's approach to writing and sought out the part. When the director saw how well the two collaborated with each other, she was quick to pick them for the lead roles. Similarly, she did a week of rehearsals with the cast to get an understanding of how things would be done. The first practice scene with cameras was the bedroom scene that opens the film, which Frizzell believed was done so accurately that it could've been filmed during rehearsals without a single change.
The ending, in particular, was selected from a series of endings that Frizzell had thought of. One of her original takes involved robbing the central grocery store. These were all moments pulled from her youth, though she feared including some because of how unrealistic they seemed for being too outrageous. The final scene took a few days to film and included having to figure out how the six-foot-tall elderly actor could faint without injuring himself during a central vomit scene. They got it worked out. The music was done by Sarah Jaffe, who composed a lot of the original music for the film in order to help give it authenticity. During production, Frizzell would use playlists for the actors to help them get a sense of each scene. However, most of the songs (which included The Cocteau Twins) couldn't be used for copyright reasons. Still, she was impressed with how much of the film worked otherwise.
There have since been talks of Frizzell releasing the book that inspired Never Goin' Back. Considering how open she is about her past, she doesn't consider any criticism about the bad behavior of the characters to be a negative reflection on her. Still, she admires them because of what they represented in her life. Following completion and editing, she submitted the film to Sundance Film Festival where it screened. Days before, she got a deal with A24 for distribution rights believing that Mitchell and Morrone gave phenomenal performances. Along with producer Lowery, the film was worked on in the marketing phase with Frizzell down to what colors would be used on the poster. The director has claimed many times that she loves A24 and considers it "my studio" because they always release the best movies.
The film was released on August 3, 2018 to fairly positive reviews and low box office numbers. The film currently holds a healthy 76% rating on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Katie Walsh of Los Angeles Times lead the positive reviews when noting that "Anchored by a pair of effervescent and authentically lived-in performances from Mitchell and Morrone, Never Goin' Back is a sweaty, silly summer adventure, and a sincere shout-out to the power of best friendship." Caitlin Quinlan of CineVue was also positive on the film by suggesting that "The comedy in the film is oftentimes predictable, but it mostly works for such a short and sweet production." James Berardinelli of ReelViews was one of the few who disagreed when claiming "Augustine Frizzell's debut forces us to spend nearly 90 minutes in the company of two unbearably dumb protagonists."
While the film was at best a mild success, it was enough to prove that A24 was able to make gross-out comedies that got positive attention. While it's too early as of this writing to know what Frizzell's next project is, she has gone on to direct the pilot episode for HBO's controversial new teen comedy Euphoria. It's safe to say that she has a niche of exploring the life of rude teenagers and making them palatable to audiences. Who knows what lies next for her, especially if it's another personal story of entertaining yet dumb decisions. Up next is another true story featuring people who have been to prison. Only this time it's a lot darker and more disturbing than a silly little comedy. A Prayer Before Dawn is a film about a boxer fighting in tournaments. Is it as good as Frizzell's little comedy? Only time will tell on that one.
Up Next: A Prayer Before Dawn (2018)
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