Review: Marianna Palka’s pitch-dark comedy-drama ‘Bitch’ stars Jason Ritter

Writer/director/star Marianna Palka skewers suburban life with the riotous, unsettling “Bitch,” the tale of a stay-at-home mom who drops out when the pressure proves too much. The film opens with a suicide attempt and only gets darker.

Palka plays Jill, mother of four, married to harried workaholic philanderer Bill (Jason Ritter). As he ignores her cries for help, caught up with his own concerns at work, Jill creeps closer to the edge, and one night, after another missed family dinner, she cracks. Haunted by the barking of a neighborhood German Shepherd, her broken psyche adopts the persona of a growling, rabid dog, cowering in the basement.

“Bitch” expresses its deep anxiety through Jeffrey Alan Jones’ sound design and the score by Morgan Z. Whirledge. Plucked strings, erratic drums, scratching percussion, and always the tapping of long nails and constant barking reflects Jill’s mental state, stretched to snapping. The lighting is cold and sterile — nothing warms in “Bitch.”

Ultimately, “Bitch” becomes a showcase for Ritter’s performance. The crisis forces Bill to snap out of his misogynist corporate programming, as he’s suddenly tasked with taking care of his children and wife for once. Their American Dream becomes a nightmare, if it wasn’t already.

As the family descends into chaos, Bill breaks down and hits rock bottom, where he has to figure out how to make himself whole again. “Bitch” takes a provocative and surreal premise, rooted in social commentary, and follows it to its plausible end. For a film that’s incredibly angry and blackly comic, it finally, and surprisingly, makes a case for compassion and understanding.

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‘Bitch’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills; also on VOD

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