Brain Job: Perception
2025 · 10m · USA
Directed by Clare Ruddy
Genres: comedy, experimental
Tones: absurdist, humorous, surreal
A faux-edutainment psychology program drags optical illusions and sensory riddles into absurdist territory, all narrated with the unearned authority of a 90s VHS host. Made in Chicago with a deep bench of weirdos.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Finally, a psychology show that admits the whole field is a parlor trick. The faux-authority bit shouldn't work this well, but Ruddy commits like she's defending a dissertation she invented this morning.
Clare Ruddy mimics low-budget 90s edutainment to satirize pop neuroscience — Wonder Showzen's format awareness with a Chicago weirdo bench. Funny in flashes, longer than the gag.
Mimicking low-budget educational-television format to satirize pop neuroscience, with absurd animations and non-sequitur riddles — Clare Ruddy's faux-VHS-host conceit needs the production design to commit and it sounds like it does.
Reviews
A hilarious spoof on pop psychology filled with absurd animations and non sequitur riddles...gets a lot of mileage out of its faux authority and clever subversions.