Sodium Party (2013) Reviews

• Subtle and Brilliant

  gavin69422014-07-31

  "Sodium Party" follows Claire (Slaine Kelly) through a harrowing childhood to university where she meets Danny, a frequently intoxicated photographer who exposes her to real life through a cocktail of love and drugs. Approaching this film as a horror movie, it is not your typical scare. There is not much in the way of blood, guts and women running through the woods. Instead of focusing on the emotion of "terror", this film instead looks at the scariness of anxiety. A real life scare many suffer from. Throw in some drugs, some delusions, some fantasy, and you have a really solid film. This may not appeal to everyone, but it is worth a watch for those with open minds. Unique, interesting, and well-acted.

• What a load of rubbish.

  BA_Harrison2017-11-28

  As a child, Claire suffered from an overbearing mother and witnessed the suicide of her father, causing her to invent an imaginary friend to help her cope with the trauma. Now 26 years old, Claire (played by Slaine Kelly) is at college, but falls for her wild classmate Danny (James Corscadden), who introduces her to the world of alcohol and drugs. But is Danny real, or is Claire seriously mentally ill and living in a fantasy world? I reckon she's a few Guinnesses short of a full round, but I can't say for sure… this jumbled mess of pretentiousness is nigh impossible to follow thanks to director Michael McCudden's overuse of countless contrived movie-making techniques. Non-linear narrative, choppy editing, wobbly camera-work, pointless out-of-focus shots, extreme close-ups—just a few of the tricks that, when combined, are guaranteed to grind my gears. Four years after its release and there's still only one IMDb review for Sodium Party (other than mine); I reckon that's because only one other person has made it though to the bitter end of this dreadful pile of unmitigated garbage. In the name of fairness, I always watch to the end before reviewing, no matter how tough the going gets, but this one was a real test of my resolve.

• I liked it

  jordanwatters2019-03-04

  It's very good and not unmitigated garbage(seriously).

• Irish character drama

  Leofwine_draca2018-02-19

  SODIUM PARTY is an indie-budgeted character study from Ireland. The story follows a young female protagonist as she heads off to university and falls in love, except that she's destined to be haunted forever by the ghosts of her past. It's your usual nervous breakdown story which goes for all-out character depth but generally fails. It's mostly unbelievable with limited acting talent across the board, while the direction is far too self-consciously arty.