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2017 · 7m · España
Directed by Montse Bodas, Raquel Troyano
An elderly lady has problems with her new telephone and its answering service, in a short dedicated to all those who do not get along with new technologies.
Picked by Zoe
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It's a premise that could've been a Hallmark greeting card—old person vs. technology—but Bodas and Troyano seem to know exactly what they're doing, which means either they're smarter than the setup or I'm missing something; I'll watch it again to be sure.
A tidy comic study in the lineage of Tati's machine-age comedies, executed with formal restraint and clear sight lines; the answering machine becomes a kind of absurdist prop, and the craft here is in knowing when NOT to oversell the bit.
Seven minutes and the whole thing hinges on whether they trust the awkward silence between button-presses—that micro-choice of pacing, letting the elderly protagonist's confusion breathe instead of papering it over with music or reaction shots, turns 'old person confused by phone' into something genuinely tender.