Beyond Failure
2024 · 9m · USA
Directed by Marissa Losoya
Genres: comedy
Tones: contemplative, darkly comic, tender
After falling down a YouTube fitness rabbit hole, a young woman becomes obsessed with building the perfect butt, convinced it will transform her mediocre life — but the physical pursuit becomes a gateway to confronting the whirlwind of overthinking, self-criticism, and chaos of navigating her twenties.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Director writes/directs/shoots/edits/stars herself in eight minutes about wanting a great ass to fix her life — that's a personal essay film with the right amount of self-awareness, and 69K views suggests the deadpan lands. The DIY voice is the value.
Losoya as writer-director-DP-editor-star achieves the kind of total authorship that Joanna Hogg or Lena Dunham first made legible, and 69.7K views suggests the docu-fictional voice resonates. A genuine one-woman vision.
Losoya writing/directing/shooting/editing/starring in 8:41 with her mom in support — that level of solo authorship gives the docu-fictional voice its credibility, and 69.7K views with 559 likes is a great engagement ratio. The bootstrap craft IS the texture for this kind of YouTube-fitness-spiral material.
Reviews
Beyond Failure is giving early YouTube vibes, but with a grace and nuance that turns that description into the highest compliment.
A sharp and darkly comedic short film that explores the exhausting trap of hyper focus and hyperawareness with striking honesty. It's rare to find such grounding in a comedy, but Beyond Failure pulls it off with elegance.
Festivals
- Greenpoint Film Festival 2024
- New/Next Film Festival 2024
- Athens International Film + Video Festival 2025