You cannot fault co-writers/co-directors/co-editors Delilah Napier and Lucy Powers for ambition. Floating Carousel is clearly a showpiece for their talents, and as an example of how to make a movie in New York City with practically no money it very much delivers. Its tale of poor romantic choices and their consequences swerves all the clichés made famous by the TV shows about young women in New York that you are thinking of into something both sweeter and much stranger. Floating Carousel should elevate the careers of everyone involved because it’s a messy and entertaining good time.
Ruby (Ms. Powers) and Olivia (Ms. Napier) are best friends and roommates who also work for the same as-yet-unaired podcast. Olivia is dating the much older Eric (Reg Rogers), while Ruby is dating the deeply insecure Joey (Noah Kieserman). As the film begins both relationships break up, Olivia’s because she doesn’t agree to immediately have Eric’s baby, and Ruby’s because Joey is convinced she is cheating on him. As they jointly reel from these events, they go to the birthday party of their friend Sebastian (Dylan T Jackson), a wannabe cabaret performer who is obsessed with one of the drag queens at everybody’s favourite club. Also at the party are other friends Sasha (Elsie Hewitt), a “professional cuddler” who sees her career as adjacent to sex work but not of it, and Alex (Glori dei Filippone), a bisexual grad student at Columbia whose thesis on human sexuality helps her meet an awful lot of people. Olivia is moping because Eric’s wealth and free spending opened a lot of fun doors for her, while Ruby is moping because she liked Joey. But we all know the best cure for getting over somebody. Back on the apps, they separately both meet a guy named Shanay (Julian Cihi having a wonderful time being the absolute worst) who has a practiced routine for his dates that involves a drink at the cocktail bar where Alex works. Sebastian is entered into a cabaret contest, Sasha starts experiencing a bunch of unnecessary drama from one of her clients (Michael Cyril Creighton), and Alex continues to have a very high opinion of her own judgement. But the closeness of Olivia and Ruby’s friendship is where the true consequences come from. After all, if they didn’t both agree about what they deserved, how could any of the rest of this be possible?
The entire experience is very much the sense of everyone involved grabbing their big chance with both hands. Cinematographer Fletcher Wolfe does expert on-location work so that the city feels spacious despite its cramped spaces, while Anna Drubich’s music makes repeated use of a carousel-style motif that never overdoes it. The sense that everyone here is repeating their mistakes and learning absolutely no lessons is so much like real life that it’s very funny. Karen Boyer’s costumes and Samson Smith’s makeup, especially on Sasha and Sebastian, are also beautifully done. But the main achievement here is how both Ms. Napiers and Ms. Powers maintain just the right tone. The misbehaviour here is that of being young, of thinking that playing adult games does not have adult consequences, and that adulthood is just an endless stream of endless opportunity. To an extent this is what your twenties are for but at some point you do have to realise why the sadder older people you meet got that way. Your choices do matter, whether that’s treating every blonde in New York City like they are one interchangeable woman, or using the same line to fish for tips every night (Ruby McCollister as the waitress does an enormous amount with not much).
If you argue with the bouncer, or flirt with the married lady, or hesitate when asked a direct question, you change things. Maturity involves being aware of that and Floating Carousel shows how a large group of young people learn this lesson the hard way. The ending is a major and unpredicted surprise that also demonstrates a big sense of humour. The romantic mistakes of pretty people are always enjoyable to watch, so why not get weird with it? Why not go absolutely all the way? Why not indeed. Let’s hope the promise of Floating Carousel gives everyone involved here exactly what they are hoping for.
Floating Carousel has recently played a number of film festivals.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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