Actor Seeks Role
2015 · 10m · USA
Directed by Michael Tyburski
Genres: dark comedy, drama
Tones: contemplative, darkly comic, melancholic
An unemployed actor pays rent by performing as a fake patient for medical students, throwing his whole soul into pretending to be sick. Only one of the supervising doctors notices he might actually be good at this.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Karpovsky doing committed character work inside a premise about committed character work — the meta-loop is the whole point and Tyburski plays it absolutely straight. That restraint is what sells it.
Michael Tyburski treats standardized-patient gig work as serious craft and quiet humiliation simultaneously — Listen Up Philip's interest in artistic failure, with Karpovsky carrying it. Quietly excellent.
Alex Karpovsky as an unemployed actor pouring his whole soul into standardized-patient gig work while one doctor notices he might actually be talented — that's a beautifully specific premise about craft-as-humiliation.
Reviews
Slick production values and an impressive lead performance carry the weight of a dark, subtly comedic tone.