4/4
2018 · 10m · USA
Directed by Kyle Sawyer
Genres: comedy, experimental
A composer holes up in a cabin to write, but the metronome starts colonizing every mundane sound around her. Creativity stages a coup against its own host.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Writer's block as horror film, except the monster is a metronome and the punchline lands every time. Refreshing to see a process movie that doesn't pretend the process is noble.
A metronome metastasizing into the entire soundscape of a writer's-block cabin is one of the more elegant formal premises I've read in this batch, and the Tati comparison earns its place if the sound design lives up. Diegetic rhythm as antagonist — yes please.
The metronome colonizing the diegetic soundscape (coffee prep, brushing teeth) is genuinely smart sound design — that's a real composer-vs-creativity battle staged through cutting and audio rather than dialogue. Atmosphere-as-plot done right.
Reviews
Wonderfully constructed with rhythmic visuals and sound design
imbued with a sense of humor