By Juan Markos
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10/12/2025
It’s a sick, sad world. I just watched “The Uniform,” which embodies loneliness and chaos. The film opens with birds, cartoons, and a woman on the floor creating origami paper swans. She’s sitting in a room surrounded by them, in some trance, when, suddenly, she becomes captivated by a commercial for plaque psoriasis. I’ve always found those pharmaceutical commercials to be both funny and bizarre. As she watches the characters in the commercials socialize and have fun, she smiles, appearing lost and manic.
She begins to get ready and puts on her uniform, revealing that she is a policewoman. I’m a bit shocked and uncertain about where the film is going. At first, I think it’s going to be a depiction of the craziness of the police, but it turns out to be so much more. While on patrol in the park, she catches a man urinating. She approaches him from behind; he seems indifferent to her authority as a police officer. Then she unexpectedly asks him to touch her. I’m waiting for her to shoot him when he actually does, she moves his hand to her breast. It’s shocking and crazy, and I’m still waiting for her to pull out her gun when he runs off.
As she walks up the street, despite being a police officer, she goes largely unnoticed. She observes a man breaking into a car with his girlfriend. He steals cash and a few items and notices some flowers in the back seat, which he takes for his girlfriend while she watches him steal. They leave without any urgency. The policewoman, played by Jammie Patton, quietly follows them home.
She knocks on their door and tells them she saw what they did to let her in. The girlfriend of the thief allows her inside. Once inside, she begins to interrogate them, but the conversation quickly goes awry. It’s awkward; she asks if he’s going to offer her something and requests tea, which he hurriedly makes on a burner. She sits down and begins to drink it. The situation feels tense, and I’m still thinking she might shoot someone. Is that what everyone thinks about the police, or is it just me?
The plaque psoriasis commercial comes on again, and she seems to drift back into that trance. She asks the girl what she enjoys doing, and the girl mentions that she used to like dancing. The cop stands up and begins to dance, and the girl joins in, creating a surreal moment. I can’t believe what’s happening. She asks if the girl thinks she looks good, and at this point, I suspect she’s trying to provoke something sexual. Meanwhile, the guy starts complimenting her uniform, realizing that it isn’t an actual police uniform but a disguise. In shock, she runs up the stairs crying and locks herself in a bathroom, envisioning herself in the commercial. In a moment of despair, she tries to kill herself with a fake gun, and out comes a fake bullet.
The couple downstairs can hear her unraveling, screaming, and crying. She eventually comes down the stairs wearing only her panties, having abandoned her uniform and the persona it represented. This film is shocking, outrageous, daring, uncanny, sick, twisted, and funny. Jammie Patton is an incredible actress; she truly embodies the mania, emotions, and frailty of this character. The film is beautifully shot and tells a story I never could have imagined. Directed by Dylan Gary, who has become an instant favorite of mine, it is penned by Gary and Mateusz Broughton. It also features Hannah Weir, Chinonso Edmond Egwuonwu, and Neil Donahue. Although the film is short-lived, it captures so much of the human condition. I look forward to seeing any upcoming films featuring these stars and the director.
The Uniform will screen at this years Highland Park Independent Film Festival.
