Black Eyed Susan is the return of indie director Scooter McCrae (Shatter Dead) who after two decades, is back with another bleak transgressive vision. Philosophically dense as it is shocking, Susan explores some of the deepest, darkest pockets of the human condition in an attempt to work through and explore some rather difficult and taboo subject matter. While his previous efforts were shot on Betacam SP tape, and MiniDV, Susan is shot on 16mm and produced by the fearless boutique distro Vinegar Syndrome.
The story follows Derek (Damian Maffei) who is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. The alcoholic was recently separated from his wife due to some domestic abuse issues and when he’s not driving his uber, he’s living in it. When we catch up to him his longtime friend Alan just died of an apparent suicide, and it’s at this funeral he is recruited by another long time friend Gilbert (Marc Romeo) for Alan’s recently vacated position, to assist with testing a state of the art sex doll “Black Eyed Susan” (Yvonne Emilie Thälker). The hook of the doll is that it bleeds and bruises like a real woman when struck, hence the name of the film and it’s the name of a flower as well.
While Susan’s use is described as more for BDSM and “therapeutic” by Gilbert, McCrae doesn’t give the audience a pass and digs a bit deeper into the implications that would have on the human psyche, once that violence is able to be inflicted with impunity.
It’s a loaded gun of a premise that while it does shock and provoke, it slowly and methodically deconstructs the psychological and moral implications of the act of abuse from both points of view. The film looks at not only the obvious themes of abuse and the cyclical nature of violence, but technology and the commodification of sex and desire. It’s a difficult journey no doubt, and will just turn most away with its unflinching depictions of domestic violence, but the closer McCrae gets to his final question he wants to face the viewer with, the closer the film gets to offering up some terrifying truths most may not be ready for.
As a survivor of domestic abuse growing up, I can cosign the sort of character Scooter conjures in Derek. Blaming the violence on alcohol, or trying to minimize the occurrence as something that will never happen again, is something that once said enough times, becomes a lie that is accepted as truth. That is until it happens again. As Derek is forced to attack Susan over and over, who he of course begins to have feelings for, something unexpected happens with the AI that guides Susan. She no longer welcomes their encounters and this adds yet another powerful layer to this rather dense exploration.
Black Eyed Susan pulls off this high concept premise with a modest budget thanks to its fearless cast. Damian is very careful never to lose sight of Derek’s humanity and even though he does some very terrible things, there’s a core there that he is sure not to lose sight of as an actor. Yvonne Emilie Thälker however, uses the objectification and abuse they endure as a robot to make the viewer mull over what this says about us as a species. That we would create this sophisticated piece of computer hardware and software, imbue it with an artificial intelligence, just so a man could beat it up and have sex with it. It’s bleak as hell and also completely believable.
Black Eyed Susan is the kind of film that lingers and haunts the viewer, with its ideas as you try to make peace with them or exercise them from your mind altogether. The film asks some tough questions served up with some graphic violence and nudity, but like Derek, we as audience have to be shocked, pushed, and desensitized to a point where the ideas have free reign on our gray matter and the film can casually guide us to where it wants. Black Eyed Susan is a transgressive masterwork that wont pity the weak, and will bring even the more tried and true extreme fans to their knees with not only shocks, but some terrifying ideas that are 100% believable.
