Love Machine
2023 · 10m · USA
Directed by Michael Rees
Genres: dark comedy, romance
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
An anniversary gift exchange between two young lovers collapses, in real time, into a black hole of misreading. A squirm-inducing dark comedy about the part of every relationship no one wants to film.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Veronika Slowikowska doing her unfinished-sentence shtick at short-film length is exactly the cringe dosage I want. Rees is smart enough to just let the camera roll on her.
Slowikowska's signature unfinished-sentence delivery stretched into a sustained cringe set piece — an ITYSL sketch at short-film length without losing the awkwardness. Rees knows what he has.
Slowikowska's unfinished-sentence delivery and fake-laugh weaponized into a sustained anniversary-gift-exchange cringe set piece — that's the entire bet, and the actress is the right one to make it pay. 'Pretends to eat the flowers' is exactly the kind of detail that promises ITYSL-grade discomfort.
Reviews
a squirm-inducing dark comedy