Christians First Cigarette
2018 · 5m · USA
Directed by Justin Zuckerman
Genres: comedy, coming-of-age, experimental
Tones: absurdist, humorous, whimsical
A San Fernando Valley kid decides to take control of his life by starting to smoke, then can't stop, then meets a girl who smokes too. Shot on mini-DV with French pop and fourth-wall jabs.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Five minutes, a pack of cigarettes, and a mini-DV — the whole DIY thesis in one breath. The Surgeon General will hate it, which is sort of the point.
Justin Zuckerman mints a Marlboro Light as coming-of-age sacrament on mini-DV — Godard's grammar with Valley voiceover, fourth wall self-aware. Slight but it knows it.
Mini-DV grain, French pop, fourth-wall jabs, and treating a Marlboro Light as coming-of-age sacrament — Zuckerman's commitment to format-as-tone is the kind of avant-garde curiosity that works at five minutes.
Reviews
An amusing ode to smoking and out-of-date technology.