[Tribeca 2024] WITCHES -- Messy Essay Doc Doesn't Deliver on Its Ambitious, Intriguing Approach

Review by Sean Boelman

Filmmaker Elizabeth Sankey’s first film, Romantic Comedy, interrogated the romantic comedy genre. For her sophomore feature, Sankey has a very different target. It’s easy to see and admire what Sankey is trying to do with Witches, but in execution, it doesn’t entirely work. Sankey’s argument heads in some bizarre directions that distract from the documentary’s more powerful moments, leaving the film feeling like a mixed success at best.

In Witches, Sankey uses a combination of cinematic footage and personal testimony to explore the relationship between cinematic portrayals of witches and the real-life female experience, with particular attention to experiences that are often overshadowed, like postpartum depression. It’s a fascinating concept that could have lent itself to a riveting documentary.

As far as video essays go, Sankey has a clear command of the craft. It takes a lot of talent to tell a compelling (and unrelated) story composed primarily of footage that viewers will have seen before in other projects. The interview sequences are also incredibly shot, with visually engaging cinematography and set design that effectively accentuates the mood of the piece.

Sankey starts by discussing her childhood and how she saw depictions of witches in media, ranging from The Wizard of Oz to horror films and the teen films of the ‘90s. She then juxtaposes this against the historical treatment of witches along with the “witch hunts” that were a thinly veiled tool to oppress women.

But before long, the film shifts its focus from being about representations of women to something even more important: women’s mental health. We hear from a variety of women, from average people to actress Sophia Di Martino, talking about their experiences that would have been wrongfully condemned as witchcraft just a few hundred years ago.

However, some of the individuals that are interviewed have more concerning experiences. One mother discusses how her postpartum OCD caused her to have compulsions to sexually molest her child, and she resorted to self-harm to prevent herself from doing so. That’s not to say her experiences are any less valid than the others discussed in the film, but to present them so flippantly and on the same level as these more sympathetic experiences almost betrays the audience’s trust.

Sankey’s intention in including this perspective is well-meaning — she clearly intends to show the diverse spectrum of experiences in postpartum mental health — but the 90-minute runtime does not allow her to explore these more complicated and problematic aspects with sufficient depth. Thus, instead of provoking an important conversation about society’s treatment of women, it will leave a bitter taste in viewer’s mouths.

You have to admire Witches for its technical ambition, as well as its eagerness to give a voice to women whose experiences are all too often dismissed — whether as witchcraft back in the day or simply overlooked today. Unfortunately, some of the unsettling stories have the opposite effect of what’s intended and may scare viewers away from these conversations rather than opening their eyes to them. It’s a valiant effort and a creative concept; too bad it doesn’t follow through on its potential.

Witches is screening at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, which runs June 5-16 in New York City.

Rating: 1.5/5