That's Just Rocks
2022 · 19m
Directed by John Strelec
Tones: absurdist, humorous, tender
Herman wakes with amnesia and a bleeding head, remembering only a woman walking her dog, and sets out with his sister to find her.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The amnesia-meets-absurdist-romance premise feels like it's been focus-grouped into submission—what could've been genuinely unhinged instead settles into a safe, crowd-pleasing dramedy that knows exactly what it wants you to feel.
Strelec deploys the memory-loss conceit with formal intelligence, letting the absurdist tone and tender character work occupy the same frame without collapsing into sentimentality; the editing rhythm suggests a filmmaker aware of the Coen-adjacent lineage he's inhabiting.
The film's small, perfect choice is the dog—it's the only object of Herman's desire that doesn't perform or explain itself, and every scene hinges on that silent, unresolvable object, which is exactly the kind of micro-decision that makes a modest budget feel like it contains whole worlds.
Reviews
Through its comedic form, the film tries to attune the adult's perspective with that of the child's innocence and naivete. Herman's daylong pursuit to find the mystery woman also becomes a day he spends out with his sister, and when she reminisces about their childhood, the picture of a close pair of siblings appears complete.