Wayne
2025 · 10m · Canada
Directed by Aaron Rota, Matthew Raponi
Genres: comedy, drama, fantasy
Tones: absurdist, contemplative, darkly comic
While on a date with his new girlfriend Katie, Peter is haunted by his internal alter ego 'Wayne' — the toxic masculine persona he has built to protect himself — who threatens to sabotage the relationship before it can begin.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Rota and Raponi found a genuinely novel formal solution to the psychological problem — making the mask a character rather than a monologue — and that structural choice earns the emotional payoff.
Toxic-masculine-alter-ego as literal second character on a date. Ten minutes. Inside Out comparison flatters the conceit. The literalization of inner voice is exactly what a film should avoid — show, don't externalize as a character. It either works as comedy or feels juvenile.
Rota and Raponi externalize the toxic-masculine alter ego as a literal second character in the frame — making internal self-sabotage visible without voiceover is the right formal answer, and it's an Inside Out idea for grown-ups.