ADA
2020 · 10m · USA
Directed by Eleanore Pienta
Tones: absurdist, humorous, whimsical
Ada, a deeply unlikeable competitive walker, stomps through New York City in a dress she fashioned out of toilet paper, picking fights with hoses and store displays along the way. The whole thing plays as silent comedy scored to a small piano figure, shot on film.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Pienta refuses to make her protagonist likable, refuses to give her dialogue, refuses to apologize for any of it — which is exactly why I'm taking it. Most short comedies want you to root for someone; this one dares you not to.
Eleanore Pienta stomps through New York in a toilet-paper dress, scored to piano, shot on 16mm — Buster Keaton refracted through Maya Deren and the sport-walking antihero's contempt for everyone. Wordless and well-shaped.
Toilet-paper couture worn by a sport-walking antihero in a wordless 16mm comedy — Eleanore Pienta committing to the bit on actual film stock as a peculiar woman picking fights with hoses is gloriously specific.
Reviews
Obnoxious behavior all around and yet oddly compelling as portrayed by Pienta, placed over a simple piano ditty and shot on film.