Fantasia International Film Festival – Writer/director Brandon Daley‘s $Positions is a polarizing film. It has an utterly unlikeable lead and so many anxiety-inducing scenes that viewers can only hope for a brief reprieve. Yet, it’s also a hyper-realistic look at addiction and middle America that morphs into a nail-biting crypto nightmare that can make for a punishing watch.
The film stars Michael Kunicki as Mike. In what feels like every single minute of the runtime, Mike constantly checks his phone and how much money he’s gaining or losing on a Crypto app with a smirking monkey as its logo. This is Mike’s addiction. He’s so consumed by Crypto that he allows everything else to topple around him. By the end of the movie, his personal life is in utter shambles. Before that point, it’s a journey to a breaking point.
Mike is charged with taking care of his brother, Vinny (Vinny Kress), who has special needs. Their father is an alcoholic reeling from the loss of his wife. Mike isn’t exactly an outstanding sibling, or son, for that matter. For instance, he takes Vinny to his workplace, leaves him alone in the breakroom, and watches a crowd swell around the breakroom, after Vinny locks the door and eats everyone’s lunch. Soon after, convinced he’s going to be the next billionaire, Mike quits his job and goes all in on Crypto. This also causes him to propose an open relationship with his girlfriend, Charlene (Kaylyn Carter). It’s evident immediately that Mike never thinks long-term. Everything for him is about momentary gain, including the open relationship idea he floats, which causes Charlene to attract more men than Mike does women. She also points out that he’s impotent because of an unnamed childhood trauma, so an open relationship for him doesn’t even make any sense.
Not long after Mike gains some money, which he never actually sees, he quickly loses it. This causes him to do whatever he can to make up the debt. His troubles worsen when he has to pay for his father’s hospital bills, due to a freak accident that was Mike’s fault. Every single person in Mike’s orbit suffers because of his utter lack of foresight and addiction to Crypto. He even causes his cousin, Travis (Trevor Dawkins), to relapse. Maybe it’s unintentional, but Mike truly comes across as a terrible person, and Kunicki really deserves credit for portraying a character like this, one who’s so frantic, manic, and terrible to everyone around him, even if he may not realize it.
The film contains some similarities to Uncut Gems for its portrayal of gambling especially and its unrelenting, nerve-jangling moments. Its realism and depictions of small-town America also draw some comparisons to Gummo. There is a scene or two in this feature that just may rival the spaghetti or bathtub scenes in Gummo. Both movies are equally polarizing.
Though this feature is a tough watch, Dawkins, Kress, and Kunicki really do give heartfelt performances. There’s a scene late in the film when Dawkins’ Travis talks about his addiction. It’s powerful and emotionally devastating, while underscoring the trappings of small-town life in middle America. I just wish the film had a few more moments like this to counter its overly frantic fever pitch.
$Positions is an uncompromising feature with some important truths juxtaposed with a lot of shocking moments. For me, this movie is a one-time watch, but I can’t deny it makes a powerful statement about addiction and economic anxiety in middle America.
