Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It – Fantasia Review (3/5)

SWEETIE, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT is a horror-comedy from Kazakhstan that works remarkably well. The story is as universal as it gets and so is the comedy. Screened at Fantasia 2021. Read our full Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It movie review here!

SWEETIE, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT is a horror-comedy from Kazakhstan, and I never really expected to watch a horror-comedy from that country. Of course, that says more about my expectations and prejudices than it does about movies from Kazakhstan. I am continuously surprised about how similar we humans are. No matter where in the world a story plays out.

And yes, the plot of this movie is very universal and the production quality is extremely impressive. It does feel a bit longer than its runtime of just 84 minutes. Other than that, it’s a real treat.

Read our full Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It movie review below. We screened it at Fantasia after a suggestion from the distributors who also have Kratt (from Estonia) screening at Fantasia.

The universal language of film

Of course, it isn’t just film that has a universal language but rather the stories told on film. And stories are the real unifier. In this film, our main protagonist is being constantly attacked by his very pregnant wife and trying his best to be a good husband. In order to maintain some form of sanity, he decides to go fishing with his two best friends.

None of them have gone fishing before, but that isn’t the point. He just needs to get away for a while. Of course, this is when everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

With elements of The Loved Ones and a touch of The Hunt, the characters these three friends encounter are pretty damn wacky! During the beginning of Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It, I even found myself thinking of the amazing One Cut of the Dead from Japan.

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Our review of the action, thriller, comedy hybrid The Hunt here >

Again, not a country I would expect to deliver awesome horror-comedy, but there you go! Now, this new movie doesn’t reach that level of genius. It does, however, surprise and entertain far more than I had ever expected. Or even dared hope for!

Watch Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It when you get the chance!

Yernar Nurgaliyev is the director, editor, and co-writer of Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It (org. title Zhanym, ty ne poverish). I am not familiar with him at all. Just like I wasn’t familiar with any of the other cast or crew members working on this film. However, all you really need to know is that this film works really well.

I had no idea what to expect from Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It. I haven’t watched many movies from Kazakhstan so I wasn’t sure of the style or production quality. In fact, the only other movie from Kazakhstan that I’ve watched is the really amazing and heartbreaking Welcome to the USA when it premiered at AFI Fest 2019 before going on to play film festivals worldwide.

If you enjoy horror comedies, then Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It is exactly the kind of movie that should work for you. There’s crude humor and running gags plus lots of blood and crazy murders (and other deaths) along the way.

We screened Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It at Fantasia 2021. 

Details

Director: Ernar Nurgaliev
Writers: Ernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Ilyas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev, Aybasov Zhandos
Stars: Daniyar Alshinov, Erkebulan Dairov, Asel Kaliyeva, Azamat Marklenov, Rustem Zhany-Amanov