Some Freaks (2017) - Ian MacAllister McDonald

One of the more singular visions of teenage longing, self acceptance, and personal solitude, Ian MacAllister McDonald's Some Freaks is a romantic comedy which chooses to examine the darker side of the struggle to find companionship and personal identity, detailing the toxic and coercive effect which longing can have on the psyche, detailing the cycle of prejudice and possessive nature it can breed in lonely individuals whom haven't learned first and foremost how to love themselves.  Centered around Matt, a one-eyed high school senior whom is constantly bullied and picked on at school for being different, Some Freaks details the plight of a character whom feels isolated and emotionally alone, despite being surrounded physically by peers every day at school.  When Matt meets Jill, an overweight loner, the two quickly and awkwardly become attached emotionally and physically, with Jill presenting Matt with the opportunity at something he never thought he'd have - love and companionship.  When Graduation comes, the two are separated when Jill moves cross-country to go to college, leaving Matt struggling to deal with a long distance relationship, one that see him so far away from this woman he so desperately believes he loves.  Strife enters in the relationship when Matt goes to visit Jill, learning that she has recently lost a significant amount of weight, a change that Matt struggles to accept, forcing the young couple to grapple with introspection about who they are vs. who each other wants them to be.  A surprisingly mature deconstruction about love and companionship, Some Freaks uses the plight of young Matt and Jill to detail the importance of self love when it comes to companionship, exhibiting in Matt and Jill two characters whom fell for each other more due to their own insecurities and self doubts, grasping to feel wanted or desired so much that they never thought about the long term nature of companionship, one that is rooted in selflessness while empowered by a personal, individual worth.  As the film progresses and their relationship unwinds, it becomes clear that Matt and Jill's relationship, while tender and heartfelt, was built more out of convenience and circumstance than general selflessness or love, with Some Freaks detailing how Matt in particular grasped on so tight to Jill out of perceived necessity, having such low self worth that he seemingly believed this was his only shot at love.  When Jill loses the weight, her status rises, pushing Matt back into his place of deep-seeded insecurity and combustibility, selfishly consumed by his desire to not lose the girl he liked, viewing her as vapid or a betrayer to him while being completely oblivious to Jill's own choices and desires, one's rooted in her desire to feel better about herself and her body image.  Exterior vs. Interior status is explored throughout Some Freaks, not only with Jill and Matt but also with a side character of Patrick, a good-looking, popular character, who himself feels quietly alienated, a slave to societal perceptions of what he should be as a strapping young man, unable to express his more sensitive, introspective side due to always being judged as a more straight-forward, heterosexual male driven by exterior attraction.  Through Matt, Jill, and Patrick, Some Freaks' details the prejudices which exist in society on all levels of the social chain, exhibiting how all of us as individuals struggle to find our individualism and selfves among the societal defined notions of what we should and shouldn't be.  Self worth, and self discovery are paramount to both personal health and companionship, with Ian MacAllister McDonald's Some Freaks being a unique deconstruction of what it means to love, and the struggles many of us deal with to reach a place of personal acceptance, an identity, where we can truly find companionship. 

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