Practice Space
2024 · 11m
Directed by Dan Perlman
Genres: comedy, coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, humorous, tender
Alex Chavez and Yan Bo Lin — the eighth-grade duo from Dan Perlman's 2020 drama Cramming — reunite as Edwin and Steven, two slightly older friends whose bond is tested across an observant, gently comic hang. An 11-minute two-hander about confidence, stage fright, and growing up.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a sequel to a short from four years ago—the most aggressively non-contrarian move possible—and yet Perlman somehow makes a hangout film about stage fright feel genuinely lived-in rather than precious, which is almost irritating because he's earned the right to be boring and chose not to.
A disciplined two-hander that respects the lineage of American observational drama while resisting sentimentality; the restraint in Perlman's framing and the actors' willingness to let silences breathe positions this firmly in conversation with contemporary indie realism rather than YA melodrama.
The decision to return to these specific actors—not as a stunt, but to let the actual passage of time and their grown bodies do the work of showing what friendship costs—is so economical it nearly disappears, which is exactly why it lands.
Reviews
The friendship is just as compelling as the last time. Its portrait of young friendship is touchingly simple, and the actors endlessly watchable.