The Trial
2021 · 10m · USA
Directed by Joshua Gleiser
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, tense
A college kid oversleeps and is dragged into an absurdist courtroom where his own parents prosecute him for being spoiled, undisciplined, and egotistical. Kafka by way of campus anxiety dream.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Your mom prosecutes you for being undisciplined. The verdict isn't really the point — it's that the prosecution rests its case on stuff you actually did.
Joshua Gleiser stages campus-anxiety Kafka where the defendant's mom is literal prosecutor — guilt as courtroom procedure. Lo-fi manic energy, premise legible from the title down.
A college kid's parents prosecute him in absurdist courtroom for being spoiled — Joshua Gleiser's guilt-as-literal-procedure framing has Kafka-by-way-of-campus-anxiety potential but lives on the page summary's lo-fi manic energy.
Reviews
Fast-paced and cleverly designed, Gleiser's film taps into a familiar set of concerns for young, aspiring artists fueled by a precarious combination of ego and self-doubt.