Maggie So Low
2021 · 10m · USA
Directed by Michael Borowiec, Sam Marine Borowiec
Genres: comedy
Tones: darkly comic, humorous
A woman lures friends and strangers to her apartment under false pretenses, and her guests slowly clock the bait-and-switch in real time. An improvised comedy of toxic friendships and the dumb schemes that hold them together.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Improvised ensemble comedy where the protagonist is the villain of her own hangout — that's a load-bearing premise, and the Borowiecs have the chops (see 'I Adore Dolores').
Fully improvised ensemble where the premise is everyone got tricked into showing up — interesting structural risk, but improvised-ensemble shorts live and die on rhythms I can't verify here.
Fully improvised ensemble comedy where the premise is essentially everyone was tricked into showing up — that meta-deception structure is genuinely novel. Improv shorts are coin-flips but the conceit is sharp.
Reviews
Teeming with awkward exchanges and richly funny character detail, the film is carried by its terrific ensemble cast, led by the painfully convincing lead performance of Becky Chicoine.