Ryan McNeil
Allow me to paraphrase The Coen Brothers:
“Sometimes there’s a film – and I’m talking about PALM SPRINGS here. Sometimes there’s a film, it’s the film for its time and place. It fits right in there. And that’s PALM SPRINGS, in the pandemic of 2020…”
PALM SPRINGS begins by introducing us to Nyles (Andy Samberg). His girlfriend, Misty (Meredith Hagner) is the maid of honour at the wedding of Tala and Abe (Camila Mendes and Tyler Hoechlin).
Despite the formal occasion and festive setting, Nyles seems rather laissez-fare about everything going on around him. He dresses like a spring breaker, always seems to have a drink in his hand, and responds to everyone who speaks to him with retorts that are basically audible shrugs. He even attends the wedding ceremony in swimming trunks and a Hawaiian shirt.
Nobody seems to know what’s going on with Nyles and nobody asks…not even when he takes the microphone at the wedding reception and gives a heartfelt speech about the nature of love and companionship. His speech is a godsend to Tala’s sister, Sarah (Cristin Milioti) who was a few sentences into drunkenly babbling something bad before Nyles cut her off.
Sarah and Nyles share a gentle connection fuelled by how out of place they both seem, and darned near seal the deal with sex in the desert. That is until Nyles is struck by a pair of hunting arrows shot by another wedding guest named Roy (J.K. Simmons).
As Nyles crawls after Roy, he reaches a strange glowing cave. Sarah, deeply concerned, follows behind despite Nyles’ protests. After a blinding flash, Sarah wakes up back in her bed and it is once again her sister’s wedding day.
When she makes a beeline to Nyles, he comes clean about why he tried to keep her out of the cave. He has been stuck in a time loop, living this same wedding day over and over and over for so long he can barely remember. At a certain stage in his loop, he spilled his secret to Roy and now he is stuck in the loop too.
Since Sarah didn’t heed the warning, she’s stuck there too now – living this same day over and over. Unable to win, unable to die, unable to do anything besides pass time and wonder what life even means when life doesn’t actually exist anymore.
A funny thing happened on the way to PALM SPRINGS debut on-demand; the whole damned world went into lockdown. Okay, not “Ha Ha Funny”, but stay with me.
In a simpler time, PALM SPRINGS was conceived and completed as a personal crisis of the soul. It took the core conceit of GROUNDHOG DAY, and pushed it to a more nihilistic degree. What if one life isn’t about trying to elevate and become a better person? What if infinite chances aren’t about a push to perfection? What if none of it matters and we’re just stuck with who we are? Not the sunniest of dispositions, but at least PALM SPRINGS was setting out on a unique path.
Then, in between the film’s premiere at The 2020 Sundance Film Festival and its debut last week on-demand, the world went into pandemic-induced isolation…and every day started feeling exactly the same. We started spending 90% of our time in the same series of rooms, surrounded by the same faces, and eating the same handful of meals. Projects were halted, jobs were lost, plans were scuttled. It became difficult to remember what day of the week it even was.
By and large, the world became stuck in a state of perpetual present…and the tones of PALM SPRINGS resonated that much more.
For those who have been working from home – or lost jobs altogether – watching Nyles and Sarah go through their own series of stages of grief will seem familiar. The feelings run the gamut from manic energy to crippling depression. Anyone who has spoken on Zoom to a corporate vice president in their sweatpants will see themselves in Nyles wearing a Hawaiian shirt to a wedding; everyone who has scoured job listings for the fifty-fifth day in a row will see themselves in Sarah crash-coursing quantum physics.
The conversations they have in between are tinged with black humour, and often achingly honest – because why hold back? They are stuck in a situation so goddamned big, it doesn’t seem to have any actual way out. Why hang on pretence? It’s the furthest extension of what many have been experiencing: the binge watching, the online shopping, the social media addiction, the weight gain, and so on.
We look at PALM SPRINGS and we see ourselves – stuck in one spot, trying everything we can think of for better and for worse. Desperate to gain an inch, and sometimes even rubbing those stuck with us the wrong way.
However, what the film wants us to realize is that those people stuck with us are the key. They are the ones who help us weather the storm and believe that “tomorrow” will come. The people we connect with the closest are the ones who help us find answers – both big and small alike. They inspire us to keep getting up when so much wants to knock us down. Odds are good they feel just as alone and afraid as we do. They can be the answer to every overwhelming question, the rosetta stone for learning the new language spoken in this strange land called “today”.
At any other moment in film history, PALM SPRINGS would come-and-go with a simple nod of “cute” by those who gave it a go. At this moment, it’s a film audiences need. A reminder that solutions can be found to even the most daunting situations, and that life is worth living well if even for just one other person.