The Good Boy
2018 · 10m · USA
Directed by Will Kempner
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
A father-son construction outfit is sabotaged by an automatic hammer robot bent on destroying both the family business and the family. Played agonizingly straight, ludicrously written.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
An automatic hammer robot is the villain. That's the pitch. The straight-faced one-liners are what sells it — no really, WATCH this.
Will Kempner's automatic-hammer conceit promises Roy Andersson via SNL sketch, but deadpan absurdism only earns its keep when the awkwardness is structural rather than performed.
Straight-faced performances against a sentient automatic hammer — that intentionally-awkward Kempner deadpan can be transcendent when it lands, though the hammer premise is a knife's edge.
Reviews
An intentionally awkward comedy arriving from straight-faced performances in ludicrous scenes.