97%
2013 · 7m · Netherlands
Directed by Ben Brand
Genres: comedy, romance, sci-fi
Tones: humorous, melancholic, tender
On an Amsterdam subway, a lonely commuter's phone alerts him that a stranger nearby is a 97% romantic match — and he has only a few stops to find her before the train reaches the end of the line.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
97% is too clever for its own good—a high-concept pitch that executes so cleanly it almost disappears, which means it's either brilliant or invisible depending on your mood, and I'm still not sure which.
Brand's constraint-driven mise-en-scène recalls the formal playfulness of early Koreeda, using the subway's geometry and the phone's interface as parallel narrative structures that speak to how we locate intimacy in an algorithmic age.
The entire film pivots on the decision to keep the stranger faceless and let the commuter's *scanning of the crowd* do the emotional work—a single formal choice that transforms algorithmic loneliness into something genuinely poignant.
Reviews
A laughable love story with a contemporary theme — great, relevant, funny, tragic and also told without any dialogue.
The power of short-films is on display in 97%. Not only is it incredibly funny, it's also a romantic-thriller, making it stand out further.
Festivals
- Max Ophüls Prize 2014, Best Short Film
- Houston WorldFest 2014, Special Jury Award
- Columbia Film Festival 2014, Best Film / IFP Audience Award
- Aspen Shortsfest 2014
- Sapporo International Short Film Festival 2014
- Asiana International Short Film Festival 2014