Opens in New York and Los Angeles on April 17th
Erupcja is the latest from Pete Ohs, a film that firmly erases any lingering doubt about the acting bona fides of one Charli XCX, who has no less than five movies hitting this year and co-stars in this breezy relationship drama with ease. Shot without a traditional script and largely improvised, the film uses that to achieve a lived-in, slice-of-life texture. A guiding narrator fills in the gaps, sidestepping clunky exposition in favor of something that feels closer to how people actually exist and communicate. The result is a sharp, surprisingly tender love letter to toxic friendships. From the line, “Nel always dressed like she was going to a funeral and Bethany always dressed like she was going to a sleepover,” you immediately understand exactly who are two leads represent aesthetically.
Erupcja leans into these romanticized ideas of manifested coincidences and happenstance through Nel (Lena Góra), who lives in Warsaw, Poland, spending her days toiling at her mother’s flower shop. There’s a quiet unease hanging over her as the film opens, which only deepens when her sister reveals that Nel’s ex has returned to the country hoping to reconcile. At the same time, her childhood friend Bethany (Charli XCX) blows back into town, boyfriend (Will Madden) in tow—he’s planning to propose, armed with his grandmother’s ring. When a volcanic eruption strands Bethany and her beau, it sets off a familiar chain reaction: a time-honored ritual between the two friends where accountability disappears, and the pair fall into nights of partying, staying out until dawn, and abandoning their partners in the process.
What the film captures so well isn’t just the intoxicating rush of that nonstop party, but the emotional wreckage left in its wake. Bethany ghosts Rob the night before he plans to propose, leaving him adrift in a country he barely knows. Meanwhile, Nel’s ex appears to be making a genuine, heartfelt attempt at reconciliation, only to be repeatedly stood up as the women bounce from party to party, bar to bar. This cycle affects them in different ways: one begins to recognize the need for responsibility and change, while the other doubles down on the spiral, clinging to a version of herself that refuses to grow up.
Unlike the mumblecore vibe I was expecting, Erupcja is less about loose naturalism and more about fleeting moments and vibe, elevated by its dreamlike cinematography. Charli XCX appears refreshingly stripped back here—sans the fierceness we’re used to—which lends a real believability to her just milling around with us mortals while quietly wreaking havoc. She’s paired with the steady Lena Góra, who anchors the film and offers a crucial point of entry into the narrative, given that Bethany functions as more of an embodiment of chaos than a traditional character. It’s also worth applauding the film for sidestepping more sordid, predictable territory by resisting the urge to pair them romantically, instead allowing their relationship to remain rooted in friendship.
There’s a bit of irony in the “365 party girl” now headlining two films this year that explore the aftermath of the party—and neither is particularly pretty. Where The Moment leaned into comedic chaos, Erupcja plays more like a coming-of-age unraveling. It’s not the film I expected, but the projects Charli continues to align herself with suggest a surprising level of intentionality—championing filmmakers and stories that aren’t mere star vehicles, but fully realized works she happens to inhabit. The result is a growing, genuinely intriguing body of work. While cinema has no shortage of films celebrating the best kinds of friendships, Pete Ohs offers something more ambivalent yet equally compelling: a meditation on a kind of toxicity that can feel exhilarating in the moment, even as it proves quietly, inexorably self-destructive.
