The Misery Line
2024 · 10m · UK
Directed by Julia Mervis
Genres: comedy, documentary
Tones: absurdist, contemplative, humorous
A filmmaker in an oversized suit and red tie rides the London Underground end to end, accosting commuters about their socially-frozen lives underground. The result is a wry lo-fi field study of public transit as the last bastion of mutual non-acknowledgement.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Vox pops are usually death warmed over, but pointing a camera at commuters who'd rather die than make eye contact is genuinely transgressive. Bonus for the oversized-suit bit; costuming as antagonism is underused.
A director in an oversized suit and red tie cosplaying as a tiny adult interviewer to bait conversation out of London Underground commuters — that's a Borat-adjacent gesture with real wry field-study potential. Mervis is committed to the bit.
Filmmaker in an oversized suit baiting conversation out of London commuters trained to ignore each other — that's a Sacha-Baron-Cohen-lite ethnographic posture with a quieter intent. Wry, lo-fi, end-to-end is the right scope.