We open with a tarot card reading, a scene that evokes the opening of Cleo from 5 to 7 for the terminally online doomer generation. Our protagonist AP finds herself being subject to a curse, which in this world seems to be a very real thing. The origins regarding this curse seem very unclear, but regardless she is told she has to pay $1000 and sacrifice a baby lamb in order to break said curse. She cannot afford it, so she goes off on an adventure with her good friend Danni and run into lots of shenanigans along the way in the process of obtaining said money – starting with a fight club inside a house, to meeting sketchy celebrities and men looking to pay for a good time.

Those who are fans of Sean Baker’s work or Zola (2020) may find some commonalities here. Sex work is the primary focus of these films, plus the bright and colorful cinematography shot on 16mm as well as the whole subject matter of young women finding themselves in vulnerable and sketchy positions involving shady men.

Much of what occurs during this first half setup comes across as very silly, so absurd and ridiculous in large contrast to the emotional turn and more serious tone that this story undergoes as the film moves along. The jokes here can be funny at points, with much of it aimed at the phoniness of psychics and also includes jabs at EDM DJs. But the film does not go much deeper than that, especially when the movie treats the “mysticism” as reality in its own world and what little consequences AP generally faces as a result of her bad decision-making and lack of interiority are played for laughs rather than explored in any meaningful way. It’s fun camp however, and sometimes that is all a movie needs to be!

A real shame as well that this hasn’t found distribution either theatrically or even on streaming considering how long it’s been doing the festival circuit and various screenings across North America. It deserves to be seen by more people – hopefully it gets picked up soon.