“It gets better,” goes the campaign to lift the spirits of those burdened by being outsiders. But what happens if you just can’t make it? What if losing yourself in hobbies or spending time with your best friend just isn’t enough to overcome the constant harassment and bullying? That’s the central question of Matthew Johnson‘s rather nervy and impressive directorial debut “The Dirties.” Hitting the festival circuit hard this year, the film has slowly been gaining a steady buzz, in large part due to its Grand Jury Prize and Next Wave Spotlight wins at Slamdance and Fantastic Fest. And now it’s headed to a theater near you.
Starring Johnson (who also co-wrote and produced the film) alongside Owen Williams, the story chronicles two cinema-loving high school best friends making a movie for a class project, in which they play detectives bringing down the bullies at their high school. But real life begins to bleed into their story, when one of them takes it a step further and begins putting together a master plan to take down “the dirties” once and for all, with the class project suddenly having very real consequences. Shot in a faux-documentary style, “The Dirties” is rather intense little indie that has some pretty sharp things to say about the high school experience.
Check out the exclusive below in which we see the start of these two best friends splitting apart, and catch “The Dirties” when it opens in theaters and on VOD on October 4th.