Atomic Love
2023 · 10m · USA
Directed by Imogen McCluskey
Tones: humorous, melancholic, tender
A newlywed helps her single friend shoot a dating-service intro video, 1980s found-footage style. What starts as goofy VHS prep curdles into a candid reckoning between two women.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Found-footage as a wedge into intimacy instead of a horror gimmick — finally. The conceit gives the actresses permission to say the awkward true things people normally edit out.
The 1980s found-footage dating-tape conceit is a sturdy frame, and McCluskey's previous work suggests a director who actually knows how to let two women talk on camera. Joanna Hogg by way of analog grain is a real claim to make and I'm curious to see if it lands.
A 1980s dating-tape pastiche where the camera-left-rolling reveal lets the friendship come through — that's a clean structural device for honesty between two women, and the hot pink blazer + perm world is committed. Smart use of analog masquerade.
Reviews
McCluskey thoughtfully captures a dramatic discourse moment between two friends