SXSW FILM FESTIVAL 2024 REVIEW! I love low-budget indie animation. Sure, the animation is not as slick and smooth as the big Hollywood productions, but films like Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder’s short film, The Bleacher, force filmmakers to make magic with the limited resources and budget that they have.
Rita (Kate Micucci) is a fragile woman who finds herself mere inches on the right side of sanity. While at her local laundromat, one of Rita’s socks goes missing, and as she waves its orphan pair, Rita becomes suspicious of the other patrons. The annoyed onlookers tell her to look again.
Bent over through the dryer door, Rita is sucked through and transported to a parallel universe where dolphins reign supreme. At home, she discovers a note that her husband has run off with a dolphin, forcing Rita down a long, dark road to insanity and, ultimately, vengeance.

 
“While at her local laundromat, one of Rita’s socks goes missing…”
Though it’s clear that the budget for The Bleacher was small, filmmakers Daddona and Wilder, along with animator Barney Abrahams, created a dark and slightly dystopian world. The film’s sets are highly detailed, and the puppets have an equally dark appearance. The filmmakers lean into the horror genre with gory and creepy images with copious amounts of blood applied to the puppets with great detail and intention.
The animation is wonderful, as the puppet movements are smooth and utilize unique camera angles suitable for horror. I also believe that there is also a bit of CG for accents.
The Bleacher is a fun and whimsical tale that takes us down a dark road into the mind of a monster and tells it in a way that only animation can.
The Bleacher screened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and the 2024 SXSW Film Festival.