Elaborate conspiracy theories about aliens are not a novel concept, nor are conspiracy theories about other people and the way they live, too. It can be heartbreaking to watch a parent, loved one, or friend delve into a realm of things that may seem impossible to others, utilizing these theories to justify certain aspects of their life. When it seems like it’s hurting others and themselves, it becomes a major cause for concern.
In the new science fiction drama Acidman, this exact reasoning becomes the basis for one father’s reasons to live a lonely life – and while it might be by design, it is not helping him in the long run, especially after his estranged daughter shows up at his doorstep, looking to reconnect with her reclusive father.
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Thomas Haden Church Is Stunning
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Acidman is directed by Alex Lehmann. Lehmann co-wrote the script with Chris Dowling, who previously worked on Blue Miracle and Priceless as a writer, while also directing movies like Where Hope Grows. Thomas Haden Church, who previously appeared in the movies Sideways, Spider-Man 3, and Smart People, co-stars alongside Glee’s Dianna Agron. Together, the two make a father-daughter duo that has been estranged for quite a bit now.
Church’s character, Lloyd, lives isolated in the woods, and the plot for Acidman starts when Agron’s character, Maggie, comes to find him. What happens next is a learning moment for Maggie, as she realizes her father might not be as stable as she thought he would be, making things much more complicated than expected. Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris of Sharp Objects and The Good Wife also makes an appearance in the movie.
The film originally made its premiere in June 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was picked up by Brainstorm Media for distribution in 2023, and, almost a year after Tribeca, will make its way across screens in North America at the end of March. Acidman clocks in at 87 minutes, making it appropriately timed and paced considering its story, and finds its redeeming moments specifically in the performances, especially in Church’s portrayal of Lloyd.
Acidman is a testament to Church’s strengths as an actor, something the movie world has not seen enough of due to how seldom he is cast in meaty roles and expected to play certain characters.
Fathers, Daughters, and Acidman
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In Acidman, Maggie (Agron) has been in search of her father Lloyd. At the beginning of the movie, her efforts have finally paid off, as she tracked him down and discovered he has been living in isolation within the woods. Why exactly the two are estranged is a bit of mystery, set aside for what is to come when she arrives at his home.
She learns quickly that every night, her father makes the trek up a hill with his dog to look at what he thinks are aliens. He has become convinced that UFOs with aliens in them are real, hence why he chose to live in the woods, and believes that the blinking red lights he sees in the distance each night are them trying to communicate with him.
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It is during these moments that Maggie realizes her father’s mental health is not what it used to be. Despite her coming to meet him to pass on an important message, though, she finds herself unable to have a proper conversation with him. Perhaps her task would have been a lot easier if she were an alien, but in Acidman, the people around Lloyd, like the closest neighbors and nearby townsfolk, all believe he’s the extraterrestrial entity haunting the woods.
That is where the name ‘Acidman’ comes from; it is a nickname bestowed upon him by the people living around there. So not only is Lloyd by himself in his home, but he is the target of jokes and ostracized by the people living around him.
Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional
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Conflict manifests through this; while there is the emotional conflict between Maggie and her father, a group of neighborhood kids shows up and vandalizes his house, providing more fuel to keep the movie going beyond attempts between the father and daughter to talk to each other. At first, things go somewhat well – the conversations are not long, but they are having them. But as the movie progresses, Lloyd eventually confronts his daughter and asks her the real reason she has come to visit.
It becomes obvious here he has deliberately forced himself to walk away from the people he has known, becoming the Acidman the kids like to mock and a believer in conspiracy theories. As his daughter comes to try and reconnect with him, Lloyd hovers between wanting to reciprocate the care while also pulling away to live the same way he has been.
Depicting dysfunctional families in movies is not a new concept, but Acidman shows Lloyd and Maggie trying to interact with each other in the only ways they know how to. The audience may not know the full extent of why Lloyd left his family behind, but with the pieces of information scattered throughout the movie, inferences can be made as to what the truth may be. There are past details to provide some movement from the emotionally wrought scenes of the father and daughter, giving some insight into their shared past, but these two characters might be the ones to finally break the generational trauma and start something new.
Solid Acting Strengthens a Weak Script
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It is impossible to deny that in Acidman, Church’s Lloyd becomes the anchor keeping the film afloat. Church does an excellent job making the script and character come alive, although his character becomes a bit of a mythological being himself. He is the lore of the town, the reason why people start to whisper when they hear the name Acidman.
However, in the end, he begins to succumb to the same treatment that Maggie has as a character: there simply is not enough context to emotionally hook audiences into rooting for and believing in these characters. As a viewer, we are not too sure why Maggie came to find her father or even the reason why they fell out all those years ago. Considering she is searching for the reason for that, too, it can be a bit unsatisfying to never dig deeper into it. Sure, perhaps it is not truly necessary to know all the details, but Maggie and Lloyd become static characters due to it.
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Church is mesmerizing as Lloyd, nailing down his mannerisms to make a convincing portrayal of a man who not only believes in beings beyond this earth, but is slowly succumbing to the impacts of loneliness and isolation. One could take all the alien references to become a metaphor for something else, that maybe Lloyd feels like due to his condition and life’s circumstances he is alone and the only people who could hear him are beyond this planet. While also being physically isolated from people, he is emotionally and mentally isolated as well, making life most likely worse for him.
Relevant but Empty
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On the opposite hand, all one knows about Maggie is that she recently left a relationship with a man named Ben. The tragedy of Acidman has multiple layers. One is that Maggie and Lloyd never really had closure in the sense they could become close as a father and a daughter. While Lloyd demonstrates vulnerability in several scenes throughout the movie, it seems unlikely that the two will ever truly be able to construct a relationship with each other.
The other side of Acidman’s tragedy comes with the fact that Maggie is unable to exist without the men in her life. Throughout the movie, her entire reason for existing in this story is the fact she wants to find her father. She offers no purpose or motivation for much else outside of that, leaving Agron little to work with as an actor.
Acidman offers themes that are very relevant today, whether it is about parents growing old or what happens when mental health and people go unchecked. However, the film fails to go beyond the superficial discussion of these themes on the screen. It resides largely in the present moment, choosing to not go back to the past and instead focus on the attempts between the two to bond, or conversations they have while using the dog as a medium to start said conversation.
Acidman’s pacing takes its time in getting there, but it is all about the journey of getting to that point. Those looking for some action or conflict, though, might find themselves disappointed by the drama – though the acting is to be admired.
Acidman will be released on March 31, 2023.
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