“I’m sorry this has happened to you,” Chester (Oliver Woolf) says to Melanie (Kaylee McGregor) in “Littermates,” not as an apology, but as a lesson as the former teaches the latter how to pronounce words once more. Limited details as to why Chester finds himself in this particular position are parsed out by co-directors Scott Tinkham and Michael Woloson – an apocalyptic event has occurred in which chemical weapons have left some to struggle with everything they once knew, including language, but by then the artificial sense of compassion that Chester has is at least evident to audiences as the seemingly average bloke from the British countryside has fashioned himself a god when he retained his mind, offering shelter to both Melanie and another amnesiac he dubs Liam (Joey Bader) that he sees stumbling around his property where there doesn’t seem to be another soul for miles and miles.
“Littermates” hails from the production collective That’s the Fish, which recently made a splash at SXSW with “Peril at Pincer Point,” born out of a resourceful production process where time is emphasized over cash and a limited setting gave way to enormous imagination, and they’ve got another winner with this inspired black comedy that reconsiders Adam and Eve. Chester hasn’t exactly created the Garden of Eden for them all to inhabit, but he’s got a hot tub and a karaoke machine and quickly establishes a token system that he makes sure Melanie and Liam can understand before they actually have the right vocabulary, giving out “nifties” every time he approves of something they do that they can then cash in to use the various amenities on the estate. While gunfire can always be heard in the distance outside and gas masks are encouraged outdoors (though their usefulness appears questionable from the start), the real threat emerges from inside the house when Melanie and Liam both tire of playing Connect Four and push against the whole “nifty” system as Melanie breaks into the liquor cabinet and has her first taste of alcohol – at least post-amnesia – and starts to wonder what’s beyond the gates of the house. (A trip into the nearby forest guided by Chester costs the most “nifties,” making the far cheaper karaoke nights a more palatable distraction.)
Refreshingly, whatever’s outside the house isn’t where the intrigue lies in “Littermates,” which eventually does wend its way around to providing a little more context about the international turmoil that the trio finds themselves in, but is far more satisfying with sharp performances from McGregor, Woolf and Bader as an internal power struggle when all could likely carry on living with Chester’s rules if there weren’t that nagging human urge to want something slightly more, jeopardizing a veritable paradise. Notably there’s no romantic subplot of any kind, other than perhaps Chester showing some mild libido when he gives Melanie more nifties than Liam when she sings — Melanie and Liam’s relationship is platonic and when just learning the language again is complicated for the two, Tinkham and Wolosen shrewdly slide away from a more conventional end when the idea of processing any amorous feelings would seem to be overwhelming and all the characters operating from their other most base instincts as they battle for primacy. A late ironic twist is thrown in to give the film a proper third act, but to watch Melanie and Liam gradually develop a conscience and decide for themselves between right and wrong is engaging enough.
As with “Pincer Point,” a picturesque central locale makes it easy to overlook the action unfolding largely in a single space, and both Woloson’s striking use of a square frame as the film’s cinematographer and a consistently bold score from Not Margalit that punctuates with panache makes “Littermates” feel bigger than it has any right to be, rendering the global catastrophe occurring the background less interesting than the crisis occurring in the world they’ve created. Playing god isn’t always made to look attractive by Tinkham and Woloson as far as Chester is concerned, but the admirable control they have over the film’s distinctive tone doesn’t leave any questions you’re in good hands.
“Littermates” does not yet have U.S. distribution.