Oculus Malus
2018 · 5m · Francia
Directed by Adrien Kottelat, Camille Bullet, Dorian Mouty, Félix Benicourt, Mathieu Bouzard, Maxime Blin, Quentin Masingarbe, Valentin Chotel
Genres: dark comedy, fantasy, sci-fi
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
A mad scientist creates special glasses to examine little creatures invisible to the human eye — creatures that may explain a good part of our small daily annoyances.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Eight directors collaborating on a five-minute fever dream about invisible annoyance-creatures seen through mad scientist goggles — the kind of absurdist premise that should be insufferable but somehow lands as genuinely subversive. It's the exact film that makes conventional festival programmers nervous, which is precisely why it works.
A whimsical conceit that could've been disposable instead demonstrates formal restraint and a clear visual philosophy; the directors establish an imaginative lineage with early Miyazaki while maintaining their own contemporary sensibility through precise editing and tonal control.
The choice to render these invisible creatures through practical effects and deliberate pacing — letting the gag breathe rather than oversell it — transforms a high-concept joke into something that feels genuinely discovered; it's the kind of restraint that turns a multi-director project from chaos into singularity.