Dirtbag
2022 · 11m · United States
Directed by Karsten Runquist
Genres: comedy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
Harold receives a mysterious bag of dirt and must get rid of it immediately - but no matter what he tries, he can't seem to part with it.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A guy can't get rid of dirt—sounds like nothing, which is exactly why it works; Runquist commits to the absurdist logic so hard that the premise becomes genuinely unsettling, a comedy that eats itself from the inside.
The film traces a clean lineage to Kafka and Beckettian entrapment, using accumulation and repetition as formal strategy rather than gimmick, though it risks the whimsy overstaying its welcome before the philosophical substrate emerges.
The turning point is the shift from slapstick disposal attempts to quiet, almost tender scenes of Harold with the bag—that single tonal recalibration transforms it from a premise into something that actually means something about compulsion and attachment.
Reviews
This movie is funny, the light dark humor just flows. I would recommend watching Dirtbag.