The Party's Just Beginning
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''The Party's Just Beginning'' is a 2018
comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film written and directed by
Karen Gillan Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and filmmaker. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the scien ...
, in her feature film directorial debut. It stars Gillan,
Lee Pace Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He starred as Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit (film series), ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the period drama television series ''Halt and Catch Fire (TV series), ...
, Matthew Beard, Paul Higgins and
Siobhan Redmond Siobhan Redmond ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles such as Anne Marie in '' Two Doors Down''. Early life Siobhan Redmond was born on ...
. The film had its world premiere at the
Glasgow Film Festival The Glasgow Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Glasgow, Scotland. The festival began in 2005. By 2015, the festival had seen audience figures top 40,000 for two consecutive years. It is now considered one of the top film festivals ...
on 24 February 2018. It was released in the United States on 7 December 2018 by The Orchard and in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2019 by Blue Finch Film Releasing.


Plot

Liusaidh is a 24-year-old woman from
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
, Scotland. Stuck in a dead-end job selling cheese at a supermarket, she spends her evenings
binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions vary considerably. Binge drinking is a style of ...
and engaging in
casual sex Casual sex is sexual activity that takes place outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. Examples are sexual activity while casually dating, one-nig ...
with strangers. These behaviours are
coping mechanism Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. I ...
s she has adopted to deal with the suicide of her best friend, Alistair, who died by jumping off a bridge in front of a train almost a year earlier. Throughout the film, Liusaidh keeps flashing back to the previous year with Alistair. Liusaidh meets a stranger at a bar and has sex with him. To her surprise, he tracks her down and the two have a few more trysts before he informs her that he is returning home. Walking home at night after another night out, Liusaidh passes the bridge where Alistair committed suicide. She is surprised to see the stranger there, apparently about to kill himself, and she manages to talk him down. The two spend time together and though Liusaidh asks him to stay, he decides to leave, this time for real. Before he does Liusaidh tells him her name, and he tells her that his name is Dale. Liusaidh is fired from her job after she misses several days of work, and spirals further out of control. On Christmas, the anniversary of Alistair's death, she blacks out and is raped by three men. She goes home to see her mother still socializing with her friends. On the phone she talks to the unnamed old man she has been talking to throughout the film, who abandoned his children after his wife died. She opens up about what happened and cries. Her father overhears the conversation, and when she tries to leave for the night he tries to talk to her. She goes to the spot where Alistair died and decides to end her own life. But she eventually changes her mind and decides to move on. She goes home to see her parents. She calls her friend to reconcile, and decides to try to lead a normal life.


Cast


Production

In November 2016, it was announced
Karen Gillan Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and filmmaker. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the scien ...
would direct, write, and star in her first directorial feature film titled ''Tupperware Party.'' Mali Elfman, Tien Huei Grace Yeh and Claire Mundell, serving as producers on the film, while R. Andre Davies, Albert Davies, Albert Gersten and Sloan Martin serve as executive producers under their Mt. Hollywood Films banner. In January 2017,
Lee Pace Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He starred as Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit (film series), ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the period drama television series ''Halt and Catch Fire (TV series), ...
, Matthew Beard, Paul Higgins and
Siobhan Redmond Siobhan Redmond ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles such as Anne Marie in '' Two Doors Down''. Early life Siobhan Redmond was born on ...
joined the cast of the film. Kreng composed the film's score. The film was shot in January and February 2017, and the title was changed from ''Tupperware Party'' to ''The Party's Just Beginning''.


Release

''The Party's Just Beginning'' premiered at the
Glasgow Film Festival The Glasgow Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Glasgow, Scotland. The festival began in 2005. By 2015, the festival had seen audience figures top 40,000 for two consecutive years. It is now considered one of the top film festivals ...
on 24 February 2018. The film had its American premiere at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on 22 April 2018. Shortly after, The Orchard acquired distribution rights to the film. It received a
limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on 7 December 2018, followed by a
video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
(VOD) release on 11 December. In the United Kingdom, the film was released theatrically on 1 December 2019 and on VOD on 11 December by Blue Finch Film Releasing.


Reception

''The Party's Just Beginning'' holds approval rating on review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Party's Just Beginning'' takes a bravely unorthodox dive into difficult themes – and proves writer, director, and star Karen Gillan is a filmmaker to be reckoned with." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film holds a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on seven critics, signifying "generally favorable reviews". In May 2020, the film was mentioned in
Film School Rejects Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, prod ...
. In September 2020, the ''
Inverness Courier ''The Inverness Courier'' is a local, bi-weekly newspaper, published each Tuesday and Friday in Inverness, Scotland. It reports on issues in Inverness and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is the longest, continually running local newspap ...
'' reported that a student from Inverness was selected in a competition inspired by ''The Party's Just Beginning'' to go to
New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...
, held by Mikeysline and Fashion Week Online, in a contest meant to create awareness for
World Suicide Prevention Day World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day always observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. The International A ...
.


Accolades


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Party's Just Beginning, The 2018 films 2018 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films Films set in Scotland Films shot in Highland (council area) Films directed by Karen Gillan 2018 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films English-language comedy-drama films