Teenage Joans – “The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest (The Film)” [Film Review]

Aussie indie duo Teenage Joans are imminently embarking on a tour of the US supporting Noahfinnce to promote their debut album, The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest.

The band echoes the classic early 2000s style of Paramore and Blink-182, and their imagery falls somewhere between Lewis Carroll and anime cosplay.

To further promote their album, the band has self-produced and released a 20-minute film, The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest (The Film), featuring selected tracks and startling visuals that create a colourful gothic horror tale of candy apples, a white rabbit and some sinister surgeons, in the mythical world of Rot-Land.

Teenage Joans are Cahli and Tahlia, two girls who, in the film, find themselves in a surreal fantasy-scape after following a tooth fairy and an Easter bunny (also played by the band).

Via a series of chapters (named after the accompanying song titles), we find ourselves at a bizarre Alice in Wonderland-style tea party, a curios flea market inhabited by people in animal masks and an orchard of candy apples.

Despite the weirdness, the first half is a technicolour treat reminiscent of old Jellyfish videos from the ’90s or Soundgarden’s promo for “Black Hole Sun,” but the sinister turns up a major notch following an unexpected turn that is both morbid and gruesome. “Chapter IV – Hospital Bed” deals with some sensitive themes in a not-too-sensitive fashion, leading to some scenes of surgery that are fantastical but nonetheless grisly and disturbing.

Perhaps the final chapter, “Kaleidoscopes,” is the most successful. It is a more straightforward performance piece that shows them rocking out with a raging fire as a backdrop.

If you can see past the student project production values of some interior scenes, there is much to enjoy here. The songs are pure indie pop with intelligent lyrics and the visuals overall are captivating and creative.

If you like what you see and find yourself in the USA this spring, you can track down Teenage Joans on the above-linked dates. Their album is available now.

Teenage Joans

Director / Producer: Jamie Al Kayyali
Starring: Teenage Joans
Production Company: Teenage Joans
Distributed by: Big Picture Media
Release Date: Streaming Now
Run Time: 21 Mins

Teenage Joans “The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest (The Film)” movie poster