Cucalorus 30 Dispatch #1: Actor/Director Alexi Wasser's New York-Set Sex Comedy Messy

I attended Cucalorus, the adventurous independent film festival in Wilmington, NC, for the first time in 2023, and had a great time, but didn’t make a decision then and there to attend the following year, but when I realized 2024 represented their 30th anniversary, I knew I had to, and so here I am, 2,972.9 miles away from Seattle. 

If I appreciate an organization or an event, and they're celebrating a major milestone, I can't resist recognizing or celebrating with them in some way.

To that end, Northwest Film Forum will be celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2025 (I'm on the board). It's hard to keep an arts non-profit going for that long, and this was definitely a rebuilding year for NWFF, so kudos to both organizations for staying hyper-focused and sufficiently passionate about personal projects from a diverse array of voices to withstand the headwinds of the pandemic, the streaming revolution, and other obstacles. 

MESSY 
(Alexi Wasser, USA, 2024, 90 minutes) 

The first film I saw was Alexi Wasser's Messy, the opening night selection. Wasser, 43, who worked as an actor in Los Angeles for over 20 years, moved to New York in the wake of the pandemic, got involved with a series of highly problematic men, and made a sex comedy about her experiences. She was on hand to introduce and answer questions about the film. 

In her directorial debut, Wasser's Stella ends up working on an essay about her experiences for editor Mario Cantone, so art imitates life twice over. 

Considering that she was operating on a tiny budget, Wasser managed to cajole a number of notable comedic actors to appear in the film beyond Cantone--who fully engages with the madcap spirit of the thing--including Thomas Middleditch, Adam Goldberg, and Ione Skye. I would imagine that they all worked for scale, so I appreciate their willingness to lend a hand, and they're all quite game. 

Unlike, say, Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, which I just watched the night before, Messy isn't timid about sexuality and nudity (you only see Josh O'Connor's backside in the former). The talk is quite frank, and Wasser is frequently quite nude. The film could've used a little male nudity, though I feel that way about many films; especially sex comedies and erotic thrillers. 

I'm not alone. As Zola filmmaker Janicza Bravo explained during a conversation with Wasser for Interview, "I just have a rule that if you're going to show me ladies, I want to see boys... I want nude parity because a man's chest is not a woman's breast, right? So I want nude parity."

Messy is currently seeking distribution, and I'm certain it will find it--an opening night berth at Cucalorus can't hurt. Comedies, independent or otherwise, are a tough sell for me, but this one has a lot of laughs and the audience had a fine time and asked a lot of questions. Some viewers are sure to find the self-absorbed Stella a bit much–she's "messy," after all–but Wasser is a very engaging performer with a facility for rapid-fire dialogue. 

Her inspirations were all over the map, and if you like any of these films or TV shows, Messy might be up your alley: Sex and the City, episode 1.3 of Horace and Pete for the Laurie Metcalf monologue, since she begins her film the same way–she apologized for citing a Louis CK production–An Unmarried Woman, Party Girl with Parker Posey, and Richard Brooks' 1977 Looking for Mr. Goodbar. 

The latter was definitely a surprise, since it’s a cautionary tale about a woman (Diane Keaton) seeking male companionship in all the wrong places–I read Judith Rossner’s 1975 potboiler in junior high–but like Theresa, Stella does end up sleeping with several of the men she meets in bars, so I get it. 

Coda: Messy made John Waters' best movies of 2024!

Cucalorus runs from Nov 20-25, 2024; most screenings at Thalian Hall, Thalian Black (on the upper level), and Jengo's Playhouse, with a variety of colorful happenings taking place around downtown Wilmington. As these films start making the rounds and/or hit streaming, I'll update this post.  

Messy image from New/Next Film Festival; all others by me.