Myrna the Monster
2015 · 14m · USA
Directed by Ian Samuels
Tones: absurdist, contemplative, melancholic, tender, whimsical
A three-foot-tall alien puppet named Myrna escapes captivity after her boyfriend is killed by an astronaut and tries to navigate young adult life in Los Angeles—doing laundry, attending yoga, going to parties—searching for love and connection. The film is a universal story about loneliness and the courage it takes to put yourself out there when you feel like a monster.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Three-foot alien puppet voiced by Kathleen Hanna doing yoga and laundry in LA. Marcel the Shell with riot-grrrl sadness — I'm in.
Kathleen Hanna voicing a puppet alien navigating LA mumblecore — Samuels achieves a formal hybridity closer to Charlie Kaufman than to Marcel the Shell. The naturalistic handheld around the puppet is the gesture.
Live-action puppet performance shot handheld next to straight-faced human actors plus a 2D animated flashback — Kathleen Hanna voicing the lead is brilliant casting that locks the punk loneliness register. Genuine hybrid that doesn't read as gimmick.
Reviews
Writer-director Ian Samuels combines puppetry, animation and live action for his look at an ultimate outsider... Humans all feel like aliens sometimes.
A universal story about feeling like an outsider and seeing yourself as a monster... the quality of Samuels’ film is timeless.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2015
- SXSW 2015
- Florida Film Festival 2015, Grand Jury Prize, Best Narrative
- Provincetown International Film Festival 2015, Jury Award, Best Narrative Short Film
- Atlanta Film Festival 2015, Director to Watch Award
- Big Muddy Film Festival 2015, Best Short