You certainly remember the pandemic, but your memory is probably selective. It started in a lab, the government is over reaching, or those not wearing a mask are germ warfare terrorists. A lot of excess fueled by information and misinformation, Staycation puts it all out there. So in accordance, the beauty of this horror/comedy feature directed by Russ Emanuel, is the way the presentation settles nothing, and after 93 minutes, we hopefully realize our own human and societal failings is what truly makes us vulnerable.
We begin with a foreboding news report that confirms the outbreak and quickly descends into doubt. People demonstrating and rioting and pundits of varied credibilities fanning the flames with unsubstantiated opinion.
Enter this film’s Fauci, Professor Edward Bellows (Sean Kenney) is the calm in the storm. Still, science is his baseline, so Kenney delivers the required duality. He doesn’t sugarcoat the threat, while doing what he can to temper the extremes on both sides.
Even so, one side didn’t have to be smoothed over, and Cathy’s (Bailey Sorrel) situation makes the point. One of the infected, Sorrel’s kind innocence puts a human face on what the vast majority will never face, while collateral damage comes in the form of her boyfriend Matt. Gilles Stricher exudes a helplessness that breaks the heart and dwarves us in the face of mother nature.
The absence of a big budget does not diminish the horror when we get a first real look. A chilling reality, makeup artist Christopher Osorio does a lot with little.
But like our situation, the varying degrees of impact leave the concern operating on an individual level. Add in the pervading idle time, and everyone is an expert in all manner of subjects.
Virology, civil rights and public health policy, this is where the fun begins. For example, there’s the pundits. Science still science for the talking heads, the heart of the matter must still be unearthed, and in the interim, speculation fills the news void.
The sentiment is revealed perfectly in a scene involving polling data. The numbers shift as the speculation varies from moment to moment, and the completely dispassionate delivery of the newscaster is a meaningful punchline that can easily be missed.
Of course, we saw this for ourselves and then engaged in our own expertise through zoom and masked caution or unmasked defiance. Ranging from this is the end of the world to take a chill pill, Staycation gives us the same representation and does with a pleasing eclectic humor of a wide cast of characters.
Still, in the background there is the real possibility of being infected. But like all those who survived Covid, there’s a lot of nothing in between and most of the shots convey the same notion of emptiness. Reiterated without words, together it’s another void that leaves plenty of room for imaginations to run wild.
These include nonsensical zoom calls in search of answers and ways to fill in the time, baseless home remedies, and claims to the origins and neighbors making their own public safety rules in the absence of government authority. Thus, the whole world is flying by the seat of its pants, and the laughs can’t help referencing all our own doubts at the time.
The sarcasm is hard to miss too. A camera and uplink representing the only credibility required, the procession of voices show the power of sheer lunacy, and the silly musical scores highlight all the people who fell for it.
The judgement doesn’t exactly tell the whole story, though, and Staycation addresses a more relevant human constant. The people who run things always have an unstated agenda, and whether you’re on Staycation or not, the rest of us rarely get to the bottom of it.
