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The Sisters Kardos (2022)
An emotionally nuanced comment on family dysfunction in the face of global and personal trauma
The Sisters Kardos acts as a new take on the American epic, spanning over 23 years and confronting audiences with the harsh reality of the Covid pandemic and the sizeable impact this can have on the functioning of a family unit.
The film tracks the four Kardos sisters as they attempt to grapple with newfound adulthood and extreme family trauma in tandem with a global crisis, and does so expertly through the implementation of a broad range of cinematic and literary techniques. The film's opening credits begin with a series of black and white shots of famous and iconically recognizable New York landmarks such as Times Square, Lincoln Center and the Staten Island Ferry - all of which are deserted. This immediately situates viewers by confronting them with the reality of Covid - this being a bleaker version of the New York we know and love and are typically accustomed to seeing idealized in popular media. Contrastingly, playing underneath all of this is an upbeat, swelling, brassy score in the style of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' - a well-known piece of music which acts as a love letter to the glitz and glamor of Jazz Age New York in its prime. This direct juxtaposition creates an ironic sense of cognitive dissonance which in turn effectively acts as a metonym for our relationship to our surroundings during Covid - this being the struggle to match our idealized memory of the place we used to know with the bleak reality of what is currently happening. Additionally, this is able to frame and contextualize us both physically and emotionally before a line of dialogue is uttered.
Following this, a title card reading 'July 2020' flashes and specifically situates us, however this time in microcosm in a more minute and intimate domestic environment. We are outside the front of the Kardos family brownstone as we see four young girls exit wearing masks who begin to traverse the streets. This is instantly juxtaposed by brightly colored shots of March 2020 as we are transported back to the very beginning of lockdown, the life inherent within the color palette of these scenes indicative of a time before the monotony of isolation had set in. This is introduced to us through the lens of youngest sister and influencer Lucy's YouTube vlogs. First and foremost, what makes this scene so authentic and grounded in reality are the editing tools used - these being jump cuts and iMovie sound effects frequently employed by real life influencers on the Youtube platform. This immediately makes it easy for the audience to buy in and relate. I consider this to be a particularly inspired storytelling device, as due to social distancing in 2020 we similarly got all of our information through screens and now as an audience member, we are introduced to the characters' situation through their relationship to their screen.
There is then an instant jump cut from Lucy's glamorized account of their family home's freezer breaking being an excuse to "eat a ton of ice cream", to the reality of her sister Carolyn having to actually deal with the practical and financial hardships of that. This sharp juxtaposition makes apparent the unrealistic nature of social media and how it acts an unreliable documentarian perpetuating unattainable ideals. The freezer breaking also acts as a metaphor for their family unit suddenly breaking down and ceasing to function as normal. Instead, it is now up to each of the sisters to cope and find their rightful place within this new and unprecedented set of given circumstances before their relationships fall apart - as the fixed normalcy that preserved them for so long in the comfort of consistency is melting away.
We are then further confronted by the unglamorous reality of the impact of Covid upon the Kardos family unit when we discover that the girls' father Teddy and his wife Sophie have fallen incredibly ill in Italy and are unable to refrain from coughing. Dramatic irony is employed, as while the characters are unsure of what this specific illness is, the nature of the symptoms and the fact that it was contracted in one of the first international Covid hotspots informs the audience what they can easily surmise. The fact that all of of this is being conveyed to oldest sister Carolyn over the phone once again authentically captures the physical and emotional distance between the characters as a result of the social distancing mandate. Additionally, the fact that Teddy and Sophie are stuck isolating in Italy while their daughters are forced to do the same halfway across the world in New York City significantly raises the stakes in a number of ways. Not only are the two parties made to endure and suffer through the physical, emotional and social effects of the pandemic separately in what became two of the biggest Covid epicentres in the world, but the global and geographical distance puts pressure on the family unit by forcing Carolyn to step in to the role of primary caretaker and embrace interim motherhood earlier than anticipated. Responsibility of someone beyond her years is automatically thrust upon her, robbing her of the remainder of her childhood innocence as she is burdened with having to make tough logistical decisions and act as a grounding force for her three sisters amongst this uncertain chaos.
This entire exchange is set to foreboding music that drones underneath the dialogue and creates an atmospheric soundtrack similar to that featured in a horror movie, effectively brewing a feeling of unease in viewers that keeps us on the edge of our seats. This is due to the central characters' situation being both the real life horror of the Kardos family, as well as the collective societal real life horror of the audience watching along.
Other elements introduced at the beginning of the film that ground it in reality and make it highly relatable are the frequent references to Covid fads - these being the use of vices (in Sam's case the innocent vice of slime or in Carolyn's case the more harmful vice of alcohol) and manic forms of wellness and self care (in Jen's case constantly working out) as coping strategies designed to either gain control or relinquish it.
Throughout the film, the apartment itself physically descends into chaos as it becomes littered with unwashed clothes and dishes and day old take out containers. This clutter is visceral and evocative, as the smell elicited from the grime and dirt is described in extreme detail and therefore effectively provides an entryway for audience members' surrogate sensorial connection. This physical dilapidation acts as a metaphor mirroring the sisters' collective deteriorating emotional wellness and broken chain of responsibility, as the pressure to run a household without the supervision and physical guidance of their parents descends their family unit into chaos. This plays out like a dystopian 'Lord of the Flies'-esque novel - except in this case there isn't an outlandish or cataclysmic natural disaster to prompt such upheaval and remove us from the work, but instead this 'dystopic' circumstance is our very topical and very real reality.
The film returns to black and white immediately following Teddy's Covid diagnosis and remains that way, once again representing the Kardos sisters' feelings of hopelessness and helplessness as they are plunged into this new and foreboding unknown.
It is at this point the unity of time is broken. The film as I mentioned spans 23 years - cutting between the black and white present day of the four girls walking around Manhattan and leaving notes in various locations of significance as a therapeutic exercise to deal with the loss of their parents, and flashbacks to the brightly colored past detailing how each of their parents met and tracking the timeline of their relationships. The non-linear nature of the plot acts as a device reminiscent of the scattered and fragmented psychological and emotional state each of the characters are in as they are forced to grieve and deal with the ramifications of their parents' death.
The moment that elucidates the real life consequences of the pandemic is the point at which we learn that Mr and Mrs Kardos have tragically passed away after a losing battle with Coronavirus. Not only are the girls forced to navigate a new world characterized by isolation and social distancing as a direct result of lockdown, but are forced to do so in tandem with grave and permanent family loss and trauma. This brings with it a whole new realm of stressful logistical responsibility and burden. While some things may return to normal on a societal level over the next few years, this family unit and dynamic is forever changed. This is directly addressed by a naive and unknowing Carolyn in an unrelated flashback prior to the event when she utters the Miguel Cervantes quote that "every single problem has a remedy except death". This motif of death being an unknown once again emphasizes the state of flux and uncertainty that the family have suddenly been thrust into with no instruction manual. Overall, this film expertly exemplified the themes of family trauma and dysfunction, motherhood and conflict amidst the tumultuous shared global crisis of the 2020 Covid pandemic. Not only was the story gripping and highly emotionally impactful, but the realistic and nuanced performances acted as a lynchpin grounding the film in reality - particularly one that bravely and successfully experimented with themes of magical realism. I as an audience member was captivated throughout the entire film and was able to resonate with it in a way that was cathartic.