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2017 · 11m
Directed by Will Lowell
Genres: dark comedy, drama
Tones: darkly comic, melancholic
After a painful breakup, Aaron buys a life-size doll to replace the partner he lost, and the arrangement is complicated when his ex comes to visit.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The doll premise is exactly the kind of high-concept absurdity that should be unwatchable, but Lowell actually commits to the emotional core instead of winking at the camera—which is somehow more unsettling than the gimmick itself.
A controlled descent into pathos that knows its lineage (romantic comedy's dark mirror, the uncanny object as stand-in for grief), executed with the kind of tonal precision that separates genuine dark comedy from mere provocation.
The film's pivot hinges entirely on how Lowell photographs the doll in the ex's presence—whether it reads as ridiculous or tragic depends on framing and proximity, and that single visual choice elevates what could've been a sketch into something genuinely disquieting on a shoestring.