A scene from ‘Sketch’

TIFF ’24 Review: ‘Sketch’ is a fun cautionary tale about burying your feelings

‘Sketch’ is an oddly amusing story about grief and the battle to stop a maternal orphan’s real-life monsters.

Imagination is a critical life skill. It’s not only the foundation of creativity, but an important tool for problem-solving. It also has a role in childhood development, and can help children cope with and/or work through their emotions when they’re not yet mature enough to understand them. Imagination can be expressed in play, as well as art with fanciful drawings or spectacular storytelling. Some are more inventive than others, but none should be discounted — particularly if there’s a hint of danger. In Sketch, a girl’s monster drawings are accidentally brought to life by a magical pond, terrorizing her town.

Amber’s (Bianca Belle) mother recently died of cancer and she’s having trouble processing the loss. Conversely, her brother, Jack (Kue Lawrence), and father (Tony Hale) are determined to move forward from the tragedy. Having difficulty expressing her grief, Amber carries a sketchbook in which she draws all manner of murderous creatures — a hobby deemed healthy by the school counsellor brought in when she’s caught crayoning the death of a classmate. In the meantime, Jack comes across a pond in the woods near their home that can mend broken objects. After a couple of tests, he has an unthinkable idea. When Amber tries to stop him, their struggle results in her notebook falling in the water and the manifestation of all her original creations.

This amusing narrative has a Jumanji vibe, but with a much darker sense of humour. Listening to Amber describe her drawings while her father masks his horror to simulate support is one of the picture’s funniest and most heartwarming moments. There’s an insistence that she has no malicious intention, but she’s definitely considered some inventive ways to kill or torment people, from spider-like eyeballs that steal precious items to a creature that stabs people in the stomach — not cut them in half as so many have wrongly assumed. Many of them, like Sleepy Dave, even look harmless and have childlike weaknesses. Appearing as living drawings, some of them are so vulnerable they can just be squished out of existence.

In spite of all the fun and mayhem, this is a story about grief. Amber has found a healthy outlet for her feelings, even if they seem somewhat disturbing. As her aunt (D’Arcy Carden) points out while hiding from a terrifying hand-drawn creature, avoiding the topic isn’t helping anyone deal with their loss. Consequently, young actors Belle and Lawrence give terrific performances, appearing to have a genuine sibling bond that expectedly ranges from antagonistic to deep concern and love. They, along with the class bully played by Kalon Cox, carry most of the film — an intimidating responsibility at any age that they shoulder with ease. Writer-director Seth Worley’s feature debut is darkly funny while maintaining positive undertones as the family heals by literally confronting physical representations of their trauma.

Sketch had its world premiere in the Special Presentations programme at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Read other reviews from the festival.

Director: Seth Worley
Starring: Tony Hale, Bianca Belle and Kue Lawrence

Similar Posts

  • Review: ‘Personal Shopper’ is Kristen Stewart’s best thus far (Includes first-hand account)

    Living one’s life on what feels like borrowed time and spending it looking for something doesn’t make for much of a life. The former causes a person to feel like anything they might try to do of significance will ultimately be pointless, while the latter keeps them preoccupied and consequently distracted from ever trying. The result is constant uncertainty and listlessness. Thus in Personal Shopper, the protagonist is on an aimless path that is hijacked by a self-serving force.

  • Review: ‘Insurgent’ doesn’t stand alone, but it’s on solid ground (Includes first-hand account)

    There are certain themes films based on young adult novels have in common with the main one being the concept of a “chosen one.” The idea of being inherently and irreplaceably special is presented with rising frequency. No longer is success reliant on the efforts and importance of a group, but rather the sacrifices and triumphs of a single individual. This notion was hinted at in Divergent, though the protagonist was not the only one of her kind. In Insurgent, the whisper increases in volume until there’s no doubt the future of their civilisation rests on her shoulders alone.

  • Review: ‘Big Muddy’ is mired by a single flaw (Includes first-hand account)

    It’s easy to cross the line from just getting by to greed. The grind of having to repeatedly work/hustle/rob just to make ends meet becomes tiring; especially when an end is within view. Of course retirement is dependent on one last, big score. The burden of possibility is more than some can bear and it causes them to be reckless. Such is the case in Big Muddy when everything that could go wrong does.

  • Review: ‘Tomorrowland’ shows innovation is the answer to everything (Includes first-hand account)

    It doesn’t take much effort to discern people’s expectations of the future are bleaker than they were 50 or even 30 years ago. The images of utopian cities with flying cars and crystal towers are long gone. The looming possibilities of so many destructive forces — from war to aggressive weather to disease to out-of-control technology — make it difficult to be optimistic. But what is that loss of hope doing to the prospective future? Tomorrowland explores both sides of the coin, while providing the ideal solution to the problem.

  • Review: ‘Green Room’ is the antithesis of calm (Includes first-hand account)

    Many young, unsigned musicians demonstrate their passion for their art by loading their equipment into the back of a van, going on tour and performing in divvy venues with the hopes audiences will appreciate what they have to offer… and they do it all on their own dime. It’s not about profit – because there likely won’t be much if any – but the experience. Unfortunately such circumstances are also fertile ground for things to go wrong. In Green Room, a punk band finds out just how wrong things can get.