Second Date
2022 · 8m · USA
Directed by Briana Pozner, Josh Duvendeck
A man arrives at a woman's home for their second date — a cozy dinner that seems to be going well, until he spots a peculiar pillow that sparks a series of escalating miscommunications about her tastes and expectations.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A pillow-based miscommunication that spirals into absurdist relationship comedy is exactly the kind of high-concept constraint play I'd normally dismiss—except Pozner and Duvendeck weaponize their real marriage against the premise in ways that make the escalation genuinely unhinged.
The film's formal restraint—keeping the comedy tethered to a single domestic space and a single recurring visual gag—recalls the precision of early Rohmer, where social friction emerges from the most quotidian misreadings; the co-directors' decision to cast themselves adds an amusing meta-textual layer to the couple's inability to communicate.
The whole short hinges on that one pillow detail and how the editing lets each character's misinterpretation of it compound, turning a prop into the entire emotional engine—it's a master class in doing everything with nothing, and the fact that Pozner and Duvendeck perform it themselves gives the awkward pauses and deflections an authenticity that couldn't be faked.
Reviews
A guy has a second date at the girl's place. Things seem to be going well until some communication problems kick in.
Festivals
- Austin Film Festival 2022
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2022
- LA Shorts International Film Festival 2022
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2022
- Aspen Shortsfest 2022