to-do
2018 · 10m · USA
Directed by Efe
Genres: comedy, experimental, satire
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, surreal
A young woman imagines what life could be if she completed everything on her to-do list. The optimistic self-help video tutorial slowly goes off the tracks.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Self-help videos are inherently cursed; this one knows it and uses the format as a noose. Productivity culture deserves exactly this kind of treatment.
A productivity tutorial whose cheerful graphics eat themselves alive while preaching 'work tirelessly' and 'stay carefree and spontaneous' is the kind of formal satire I want more of. Lorelei Ramirez is the right vessel, and Efe knows the format from inside out.
Cheerful video-tutorial format hijacked by its own contradictions ("work tirelessly," "stay on brand," "appear carefree") with Lorelei Ramirez committed in front — that's the right performer for the corporate-instructional satire register. The format's the punchline.