Wait Till It Drops

The consequences of our actions can be far reaching and unforeseen to us at the time we make those choices. ‘Wait Till It Drops’ shows the profound effects one unfortunate action has on a group of friends and it’s dynamics, though the sympathy for its characters is weakened by just how stupid an action it is.

‘Wait Till It Drops’ depicts the fallout from a life-altering incident on a group of friends - three girls, Freya, Christina, and Liv. Before the incident they are just a regular pack of three ordinary schoolgirls, gossiping about who’s had sex with who, boys, and eager to mature beyond their youthful years. One day after school they find themselves on the rooftops of a building in London, we presume this is a regular hangout spot for the girls, sitting in a circle mindlessly discussing the latest gossip, and teasing Liv, played by Nicola Moore.



The teasing builds up to a dare, which Liv is pressured to carry out by the other two, Freya (played by Lauren Lee) and Christina (played by Nursa Rozely) to drop a pretty big rock to the road below. The sheer stupidity of this action immediately removes any sense of sympathy or connection to the characters. If a six year old did this you might understand, however, a group of teenagers should, and would, know better - whilst they do mention the danger that somebody may be hit it doesn’t stop them from dropping the rock, and the inevitable accident happens.

Written by Catherine O’Shea, whilst the rock dropping itself is stupid, the depiction of each girl’s altered recollection of events is effective in underlining how each is trying to avoid the guilt and blame associated with themselves as part of the event, and how their separation from each other since then has deepened the roles of the other two girls in the incident, and lessened the role of themselves. However, though this is effective, it is nonetheless very surface level in terms of emotional impact on the girls following the incident, each becoming lonely, depressed caricatures, who smoke weed, loiter around parks and look altogether more dishevelled. They are separated but bound both by the same memory of the awful incident, and by the same sad look on all of their faces. The roles are interchangeable, and there is nothing beyond appearances to separate one girl from the next, thus they are weak characters.

On the other hand, Zara Chavasse’s directing is eloquent in telling the story. Soft lighting makes each scene look remarkably good, while the immediate aftermath of the incident is an incredibly well filmed scene. Furthermore, each girl gives a solid performance in each of their respective roles, benefitting from good chemistry with one another.

However, despite these strengths, ‘Wait Till it Drops’ is ultimately a poorly written film, suffering most of all from the stupidity of the incident that inspires its title.