Written by Gillian Wallace Horvat and Chase Williamson
Directed by Gillian Wallace Horvat
Starring Gillian Wallace Horvat, Keith Poulson, Chase Williamson and Morgan Krantz
Running time: 1 hour and 24 minutes

by Emily Maesar

“I guess I just don’t know what ‘likeable’ is.”

I Blame Society is Gillian Wallace Horvat’s baby. She wrote, directed and starred in the found footage style look at one woman’s quest to make a great film - no matter the cost.

When Gillian’s friends give her a backhanded compliment that they think she’d “make a good murderer,” she decides to do what any millennial with a camera and a dream would: she aims to make a documentary about becoming one. On top of the idea, Gillian has decided that her creative partner’s horrible girlfriend should be the ultimate “victim” of her film. She films a bunch of clips leading up to telling him about the whole project, which Chase does not take well. 

Three years later, they aren’t friends anymore and Gillian has moved on to a new creative project.  But when her manager finally reads her new script, he drops her as a client and she’s set adrift once more. Feeling like she has nothing left, she pulls out the documentary and decides to bring it back. She already has a bunch of footage, after all, and just needs to create the bones of the story.

She reaches out to Chase in the hopes of reconnecting, which he agrees to. When he tells her that he’s actually getting married to the girlfriend she was eyeing to “kill” at the end of the documentary, Gillian can’t help but get back on the horse that caused the rift between them. Except… she maybe, kinda accidentally, kills him on their hike. Oops. 

Thus begins Gillian’s murder spree as she aims to actually get credit and recognition for something in her life.

I Blame Society is a hilarious and unapologetically dark look at the things we do to feel like we’ve accomplished something. It’s a biting, painfully millennial film that focuses on the industry in Los Angeles and how twisted we can all get in the City of Angels trying to chase our dreams. The film uses LA as its proving grounds for an examination of what it feels like to be on the precipice of something great, without ever actually achieving it.

Once the film hits its climax, with the hike, everything escalates quickly in what feels like a manic fever dream. Gillian’s mental state and outlook on the film becomes more and more unhinged and it all leads up to her showing a cut of the film that we just saw to two producers from the start of the film. It continues to escalate and the final line of the film could feel lame, but Horvat really lands the reading in a way that feels like the natural conclusion for the character.

Horvat has made a film that is elevated in its satirical nature, while acting as a deranged power fantasy. It presents the dichotomy of playing ball or absolutely losing it as the only two ways to be - not because it’s actually true, but because that’s how it feels. There’s an element of honesty to it, for sure, but it’s often comical extreme presentation gives it an otherworldliness.

It should go without saying that Gillian Wallace Horvat is an absolute powerhouse. I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue to say it, but it’s really hard to wear so many hats when making a film,  especially a feature-length one. Horvat did so much in I Blame Society and, despite being on screen for the entire runtime, I never got sick of her. She’s a talented performer and the writing is frustrating and wonderful in the best kind of way. It’s also very strongly directed and I think a lot of her choices are incredibly well made for the film she was making. Even if this film isn’t for you, and I highly doubt it’s for everybody, she’s a standout that cannot be denied.

Horvat has spent the last few years mostly making documentary shorts, which I’m dying to see, and this is her reentry into scripted, narrative filmmaking since her award winning short Kiss Kiss Fingerbang. I couldn’t be more excited about the future of her career. May it be as strange and wonderful at I Blame Society!

I Blame Society opens in virtual cinemas on Friday, January 8 and available on demand February 12.