All's Fair...
2013 · 13m · USA
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Genres: comedy, drama, romance
Tones: humorous, melancholic, tender
A heartbroken young man, in the aftermath of a painful breakup, hires a sex worker to recreate the everyday intimacies he once shared with his ex-girlfriend. Made by director Todd Strauss-Schulson in the wake of his own breakup, the film fuses confessional grief with stylish romantic comedy.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
"I went through a pretty rough break up and made this." An honest log line and a 12-minute breakup elegy. I respect the diary form — but I've seen this exact film 400 times on Vimeo, and the cast list (Thomas Middleditch?) tells me it's slicker than the diary framing admits.
A self-described 'tombstone and love letter' made in the aftermath of a breakup — the filmmaker's grief as architecture rather than backstory. Personal-essay register; works to the extent the audience meets it halfway.
The director behind ulteriorproductions.com didn't bother with narrative distance — the film uses its own making as the subject, which is a risky move that either becomes therapy-masquerading-as-art or something genuinely raw. Here it leans toward the latter.
Reviews
Funny and charming, the film comes from the hurt Strauss-Schulson felt from his own life.
This is a story about your everyday dude who just wants to put the pieces of his life back together.