Ciao Lola
2016 · 6m · USA
Directed by Oscar Boyson
Tones: humorous, theatrical, whimsical
A romantic comedy homage to screwball classics: Peter joins his girlfriend Lola in Venice, but the romantic get-together turns into a chase as she proves too well adjusted to the city.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's a screwball homage that knows the moves but doesn't subvert them—competent pastiche that plays it safe, which is exactly what I don't pick.
Boyson threads the needle between contemporary comedy and classical screwball grammar with real precision; the Venice setting becomes a character that disrupts romantic expectation in ways that echo but don't merely imitate the form.
The decision to make Lola the *confident* one—the person already at home in the chaos—flips the usual romantic-comedy asymmetry and lets that single inversion carry the whole thing.
Reviews
The filmmaker was looking to create a short that harkened back to the genre of screwball comedies while capturing a city he loves. The authentic chemistry of the two actors worked beautifully in the film.