A Tale of an Unimpressive Magician
2026 · 10m · USA
Directed by Gordy De St. Jeor
Genres: drama, surrealism
Tones: surreal, tense, theatrical
A nervous magician performs his final trick in a crumbling room where his fate hangs on finding one card. Lo-fi opera score, monochrome textures, a woman mumbling at a TV, a man holding a silent handstand — the dream-logic supporting cast.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
I'll take a magician sweating into a crumbling room with lo-fi opera over another tasteful drama any day of the week.
Lo-fi opera scoring a magician's-anxiety nightmare — De St. Jeor stuffs the periphery with absurdist tableaux instead of jump scares, the Guy Maddin gesture in monochrome. Strange in the right register.
Lo-fi opera scoring a magician's-anxiety nightmare in monochrome single-location, with absurdist tableaux instead of jump scares (a woman mumbling at a TV, a man holding a silent handstand) — the periphery is doing the dread work. That's a real sound-and-image proposition.