Swamp Women Kissing Booth (2018)

I got a chance to screen a short film called Swamp Women Kissing Booth (2018). Come to find out, Swamp Women Kissing Booth was an official selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest, the Austin Spotlight Film Festival and most recently, the Mondo Showcase through the American Cinematheque.

Swamp Women Kissing Booth is a short/comedy that was written and directed by Tori Pope. It has a thirteen-minute runtime and is rated UR (unrated). Here’s what the story is about. When a group of hillbilly swamp girls all fall in love with the same handsome alligator hunter, they each attempt to win him over with magical makeovers and a kissing booth…with disastrous and infectious results.

I thought the story was light-hearted and fun to watch. I liked that Pope even threw a life lesson into the story, which was watch what you wish for. Now, Pope has written sixteen short films and directed thirteen of them. I haven’t seen a lot of Pope’s work, but from the few that I’ve seen, I really dig what she’s doing.

The film had a good pace to it and you can’t help but laugh as everything unfolds, in an old sitcom sort of way. Since short films have such a limited runtime, you don’t have a lot of time to work with to get your story across to the audience. Yet, I thought Pope used every minute of the film to it’s fullest and turned out something pretty memorable and entertaining.

The cast is Kansas Bowling (Primitiva), Parker Love Bowling (Swamp Women Kissing Booth), Sierra Renfro (Duck Butter), Natasha Halevi (Dick Dickster), Kathleen Hughes (Revenge), Kalvin Madsen (Absolute Vow), Galen Howard (Bizaardvark), Zack Cookman (The Bridemaker), Andy Cookman (Swamp Women Kissing Booth), and Craig McIntyre (Saint Francis). The cast did a good job all around.

This is a low budget flick, but that actually adds to the charm of the short. I dug the filter they used to film everything. It gave the film a surreal look that visually completes the story.