SXSW's "Grind" Exposes the Horrors of American Hustle Culture

This year's South by Southwest festival is already proving to be one for the books. With new releases from iconic creators like Boots Riley, John Carney, Jorma Taccone, Kevin Bacon, and more. Audiences await with baited breath for the headlining films, but like other festivals, SXSW is full of smaller films that are just as innovative as the A-list projects. One of those movies this year is the horror feature Grind by Ed Dougherty, Bea Grant, and Chelsea Stardust. A film that brings a supernatural twist to the gig economy America has grown so reliant on in past years.

Grind is one of the new horror features to premiere this week at SXSW. It is an anthology of four vignettes, centering around individuals who have found themselves embroiled in hustle culture, relying on gigs to make a living, ranging from a delivery driver to an MLM leggings peddler. However, the stakes are much higher than earning just a few dollars, not succeeding at these jobs results in immediate, supernatural punishment that will have audiences wondering how the hell did they come up with this?

Directed by independent filmmakers, Ed Dougherty, Bea Grant, and Chelsea Stardust, Grind is exactly the kind of film you would expect to see at SXSW. It's innovative, kooky, rough around the edges and overflowing with charisma. The cast is full of working actors, not A-listers, giving the project a strong sense of realism. After all, this subject matter is reality for millions throughout the United States.

It's no secret that the United States is in the middle of a crisis, both politically and economically. While politicians fight wars halfway across the globe, a staggering amount of citizens cannot afford to eat three square meals a day. In turn, millions have been forced to take up a "side hustle," with some of the most popular being food delivery, content moderation, retail, or even online sex work. Anything that is gig-based and allows the worker to earn a little extra money on the side is becoming the most mainstream way for working class Americans to afford their supper. Grind takes this grim reality and turns it on its head. Let's say you're working for a pyramid scheme, and instead of taking a small financial hit when you don't sell enough, your entire life is plagued by a supernatural curse? Or when you try to pick up a food delivery, you get stuck in a reality-warping time loop? All things absolutely nobody has wondered, except the immensely talented Dougherty, Grant, and Stardust who fortunately decided to turn this into a movie.

The four vignettes definitely range in terms of quality. The last one, about a barista union workers is easily the least interesting but that's because everything that came before it was so much stronger.

Due to my job, I have to watch a lot of movies, and often what I look for are fictional films that make the audience think about the real world. That is exactly the case with Grind. It has a very strong central message and doesn't let the visual aspect go to the wayside. The cinematography in this film is top-notch, sharp, and endlessly creative. Even audiences who couldn't care less about economics or politics will be entranced by the way this film looks. If this is what Dougherty, Grant, and Stardust can do with this small of a cast, crew, and budget, imagine what they could accomplish if given a major studio deal!

If you're attending SXSW this week and wondering what to see, remember to give the smaller films a chance, you might find something unexpected, beautiful, and thought-provoking like Grind!