Victoria tries to navigate the life of being one of the highest in demand proxies in the city while at the same time struggling with her own demons. But it’s a delicate state that is the human condition that leaves her with her own deficiencies – those she cannot seem to fill.
In Brandon Cronenberg’s stellar recent “Possessor Uncut,” an agent uses brain implant tech to inhabit bodies and assassinate folks. In Sophia Banks’s short sci-fi “Proxy,” the titular proxy is “trained to assume any persona needed in their clients’ lives.” The similarities don’t end there, as both of the films’ heroines lose grips on reality, their identities disassembled by being constantly, violently subjected to humanity’s darkest side.
While “Possessor”’s protagonist killed people, “Proxy”’s Victoria (Emma Booth) simply assumes identities to help people go through past traumas. Call it psychiatry taken to a cyber-futuristic extreme. She’s a reassuring mother to the insecure Christopher (Shaw Jones) – whose demons (and sexual perversions) stem from his upbringing – feeding him while reading ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ She plays records for the lonely, embittered Stanley (Madison Mason).
Victoria’s personalities start to blur. She balks at the immensity of the task, even contemplates suicide. The session with an important client, the condescending Samantha (Erika Christensen) finally makes her snap. Gabriel (Marcus Coloma) has no idea what’s in store for him when he meets Victoria. There’s even a somewhat-confusing twist in the end.
Emma Booth is fantastic in the lead, displaying an impressive range within a very short amount of time. Her Victoria practices her lines in the powder room, methodically picks out dresses to match her identity, has Alexa read her life affirmations – all in the while gradually dissolving into a splintered human being. A tricky part, handled with aplomb. Erika Christensen fares worse as Samantha – I never really connected with her pain or saw any discernible reason for why that particular episode would act as a catalyst for Victoria’s spiraling down into madness (or, arguably, sanity).
Banks may not display Cronenberg’s razor-sharp focus, or unapologetic stance on humanity, or scalpel-sharp wit – not yet, at least. But, judging by this flawed but ambitious short, as his proxy, she’ll do just fine.
“Proxy” recently premiered at the Hollyshorts Film Festival
