Brian Follmer’s Little Deaths is an absorbing watch of an intimate portrait of clinging to who you love in a collapsed society. Kerri Lee Romeo and Adam Leotta‘s relatable and raw performances are tremendous – an excellent, daring film.

After a mishandled pandemic sparks a political revolution, young American couples Emily (Kerri Lee Romeo) and David (Adam Leotta) escape to a remote jungle village. There, their tepid romance is reawakened by a vow to seek ultimate pleasure before taking their fate into their own hands.

Writer/director Brian Follmer rather intriguingly doesn’t linearly tell his story here. Instead, we are brought smack bang into Emily and David’s current situation, seeing them struggle with their situation, intimacy, and everything. They are falling to pieces and have seemingly little to no alternatives but to continue on their path. Then we bounce back to when they first met; they both seem alive, and energy buzzes in them as they interact, far removed from what is to come for them.

Although Little Deaths is set during a pandemic and contains many heavy pandemic themes, it isn’t a social commentary about it. We see everything through Emily and David’s eyes: the panic, the horror of seeing people die and society start anew. There is no overarching story of the pandemic; it is more a tale about what happened to two people during it. It’s more intimate and personal than you would expect, and it flourishes due to that fact. Instead, the real core of the film is the ever-evolving and devolving relationship between Emily and David. How, in dire situations, we cling to those close to us, how we need other people to be around us and if we are to lose those people, how we handle the future with the possibility of them not being there.

Little Deaths is a love story, an unconventional one, but one that is compelling due to how these characters tackle their obstacles, even when an obstacle at times is oneanother. There is also a strong air of inevitability about where this relationship is heading; the constant feeling that this doomed relationship is heading for a crash never leaves. Both are dependent on the other, but their struggles, be it from illness, etc, have taken too much of a toll on them. It’s such an interesting dynamic that Follmer has written for his characters that you can’t look away.

The chemistry from our two leads provides Little Deaths with that extra juice to succeed as much as it does. Kerri Lee Romeo and Adam Leotta are easy to attach yourself to, and you buy them together when they are being intimate, flirting or even arguing. Their relationship feels real throughout, and it is a testament to their performances that they can carry the film so well, for as much as there are background actors, this is virtually a two-person film.

Kerri Lee Romeo’s performance is so striking that there rarely appears to be a moment where the character is at peace, and there is constant turmoil for Emily in this film. Be it shouldering the care for David or wanting to try and make the relationship she has glued herself to work. That quiet desperation pulses through to the audience; she is lost, and David is the one source of normalcy she has left. Such a performance has a lot of bravery; she tackles some raw moments that many would struggle to handle.

Adam Leotta has the task of trying to be the more open and keen for a form of revolution out of the two compared to the pragmatistic Emily, especially in the early moments of their relationship. He anchors Romeo’s performance perfectly well and has a lot of moments where he is equally as raw as his co-star. As good as Romeo is in her role as Emily, Leotta is right there with her as David. The two are joined together in their excellent performances that bring a strong level of relatability to the table.

Towards the end of Little Deaths, there is a moment of pure unadulterated desperation from Emily. She can’t let David go, can’t let go of her one last semblance of her past leave her. So, they have sex to get that ultimate pleasure she and David promised one another, but when David can go no more, she keeps trying to have with him. He is spent, but she can’t stop. If she does, then it is over for them. It’s heartbreaking to watch her fall to pieces like this.

She seemed like the strong one in the relationship. Still, here she is, broken, clinging to the one thing that makes her feel alive until it evolves into her aching way of letting David go. Interestingly, considering the situation, Follmer switches who we would expect to be this way. Having the focus and intent be from the female side gives us a different perspective. It’s raw and something you don’t want to linger in your head, but you can’t help but think back on it – a superb scene.

The other two highlights of Little Deaths are the gorgeous cinematography from David Gordon and the production design of Emily and David’s “Home” by Nicole Alibayof. With Gordon, he has captured some beautiful shots of the Mexican landscape, from the cenote that Emily gets the water from to the home Emily and David have made for themselves; it is some stunning work. With Alibayof, she has managed to make that home look quite spectacular. Run down and barely liveable, she has found a way for characters to make a space like this a home and for it to photograph exceptionally well.

Overall, Little Deaths is a film that will not be for some people, but for those who enjoy daring and fresh looks at relationships, it should be an instant watch.

★★★ 1/2

Little Deaths is out on digital now

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