Fuzzy Head is a thinking person’s psychological thriller. The film follows Marla (Wendy McColm) as she is working through some issues in search of closure. Simple enough but McColm, who writes and directs the feature as well, delves into the fluid nature of emotions, memory, and mental instability to capture a sincere portrait of a person processing trauma.

We open as Marla’s best friend Jonathan (Tolliver) is sitting her down, yet again, for another talking to at his place. We get the feeling that this is a cycle repeated ad nauseam. We also sense Marla’s discomfort not only with his demeanor but with the reality of the situation. Is this all really happening? The film captures the capricious nature of dreams and fading recollection wonderfully and the viewer is left to navigate and piece things together. That is really one of the film’s more successful achievements.

Suddenly Marla is in a milky bathtub surrounded by police who seem to be coercing her into a trip to the station. What happened? We know that something went down and that Marla feels responsible. We have the “who” and possibly the “when,” but we don’t have the “where,” nor do we have the “what.” That is just a sample of the chaotic rhythm of the narrative. We follow Marla as she is subject to a collection of circumstances and scenarios that are either questioning her or provoking her to question reality. Eventually, consistent elements emerge.

The influences are more than apparent here with David Lynch being at the forefront. McColm has constructed a masterful narrative through the crumbling mind of a trauma survivor. We pick up breadcrumbs along the way as we see repeated scenes with her Mother (Alicia Witt) and a painful upbringing. We watch as the sympathetic Marian (Numa Perrier) continues to appear in the dreamlike moments. We also catch the patterns in Jonathan’s recurring appearances and his consistent signal of stability.

Plotwise, we are being handed a simple story. Marla believes she has done something wrong and is on the run while attempting to solve the mystery. The key here is how McColm and her team capture the unpredictable nature of memory. We are subject to various styles of editing, camerawork, and color correction that all keep the viewer in a sense of unease and discovery. In fact, the cinematography is shared by Sonja Tsypin, Daniel Woiwode, Tanisha Moreno … (photographer b-cam), and Mélisse Riahi … (photographer b-cam) and then cut up by McColm herself. The end result is an impressive piece of work.

Fuzzy Head is the birth of an auteur with a firm grip on vision in connection with the story. McColm does a fine job in the lead as Marla, but the real revelation is her skill behind the camera. This is cinema that asks the viewer to engage. Go with it. Fuzzy Head is a film bristling with raw creativity.

7 Out of 10