I don't usually review short films because they seldom leave me with anything distinctive to say. The reason I'm writing this review is because this film is basically the dictionary definition of distinctive. And, despite the fact that I've seen more short films than I can count, I can safely say that this is my favourite short of all time.
A lot of people find this film weird and I don't blame them in the slightest. In fact, when I showed this film to my friend, their first reaction was "the f$%&?", and, in all fairness, so was mine. But the thing is, for the longest time, I've loved weird, off-beat humour, so this scratched that very particular niche in my brain. The reason this film is so funny stems from its absurdity and its campiness. In fact, when I was watching it for the first time, I really had no idea where it was going to go next. And, I mean, what else can you expect from a film about someone who gets struck in the face by lightning?
Oscar Isaac once again proves that he is an incredible actor by simply stealing the show for the entire 20 minutes. Said 20 minutes are essentially him having a complete mental breakdown whilst confined inside his apartment (strangely enough predicting both Moon Knight and all of 2020). And somehow, even though this film (as I've mentioned) is one of the, if not *the* weirdest film I've ever seen, Isaac gives an incredibly realistic, if not a little over-the-top, performance. I'd definitely watch a feature film of him just throwing stuff around a very nice-looking apartment.
Speaking of throwing stuff around a nice-looking apartment, the single-space set-up works really well and shows how creative you can be even if you've just got one location on your hands. In general, despite all of its transcendental monkey-themed lightning weirdness (well, that's a sentence I never thought I'd write), it's a really interesting portrayal of someone who is clearly losing it. And I love the ambiguity of it all - despite watching it twice within the last two days, I am no closer to understanding it, and I can't stop thinking about it.
After loving this film a lot, I checked out some more of Brian Petsos's work. He's collaborated a lot of with Oscar Isaac (I presume that the two are friends), and I really love his style of short film. The other short of his that I saw, Ticky Tacky (2015), once again displayed that dry, absurd sort of humour, but I enjoyed this over that partially due to the weird premise. I'd very much like to see more collaborations between the two, maybe even a feature film.
In conclusion, I guarantee that this will be 20 of the strangest but most fulfilling minutes of your life.
-Sasha.
