It Cuts Deep premiered on 13th November 2020 on Video On Demand. Written and directed by Nicholas Payne Santos, the film stars Quinn Jackson, Charles Gould, and John Anderson alongside other cast members.
The Complexity Of A Human Mind
It Cuts Deep revolves around a couple, Samuel aka Sam (Charles Gould) and Ashley (Quinn Jackson), who go on a Christmas vacation to Sam’s childhood home somewhere in the interior of the States where not even cell service is available. Both Ashley and Sam want different things from their lives – while Ashley wants to get married and have kids, Sam is in the opposite place altogether. When the couple reaches the family home, you see that they are conflicted within and this isn’t exactly an ideal lover’s vacation!
As time passes, they encounter Sam’s old best friend Nolan (John Anderson) who doesn’t look like his best friend, and Sam wants to steer clear from him as he fears he might swoop in and take away Ashley. There are numerous encounters with Nolan which causes Sam to spiral again and again imaging unpleasant scenarios in his head. Furthermore, there is an uneasy tension that builds and builds in the film until the shocking revelation is rammed in Ashley’s face and the chaos conquers and gulps everything.
When I started watching It Cuts Deep, there was an element of suspense in it undeniably. However, as the movie progressed, things got predictable. Though I kept on thinking that something wrong happened with Sam and he was on the receiving end of the bad things but once that was cleared out everything before and after was more or less predictable and seen before. The movie could have worked as a short film, rather than a full-length feature film and still have the same effect, or maybe more, as it won’t be unnecessarily stretching the plot.
Love is complex and we have established it in various movies time and time again. Insecurities can screw a person and their mind and when it’s combined with one’s own trauma and bloody deeds, it gets even more dangerous! The entirety of the back story provided to us in It Cuts Deep fails to make sense even by the end of the film. It is scattered and it does not aim to confuse you or create suspense but just be! We know by the end that Ashley was settling for Sam as she was pregnant with his child but her misery by the end as a pregnant woman doesn’t make you sympathize with her.
In the whole duration of the film, you fail to connect with any of the characters which majorly takes the movie downhill, other than the whole I-have-seen-this-before thing! If I had to name the saviours of this movie it would be Charles Goud as Sam whose moods flip like a switch and Quinn Jackson in some bits! That’s it.
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! While It Cuts Deep is a fairly good attempt, you would get the same content in other short films too but with more effect! The cast is nice, the isolated setting is the perfect fit but the screenplay here is a lag!
Also, how does Sam look the exact same after almost 10 years? Weird.
It Cuts Deep is now available on Video on Demand.
Read our other reviews here.