Crimen pluscuamperfecto
1999 · 8m · España
Directed by Joan Álvarez Durán
Genres: comedy, crime, thriller
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, tense
In the middle of a birthday that promised to be quiet, a group of young people find themselves involved in an unexpected and absurd crisis that will put their ingenuity, their cool blood and their friendship to the test.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A 1999 Spanish short that treats a birthday party crime scenario like a logic puzzle gone haywire—absurdist without winking, tense without taking itself seriously. This is exactly the kind of genre mutt that makes you question why crime-comedy isn't more widely trusted as a form.
Durán demonstrates formal control in the collision of domestic comedy and thriller mechanics, situating the piece within a lineage of European shorts that weaponize tonal whiplash as structure rather than accident.
The real move here is the editing rhythm that keeps the absurdity and actual stakes in perfect equilibrium—letting each beat breathe just long enough that you believe the danger before the next joke lands.