What's That Smell?
2024 · 7m · United States
Directed by Alex Furnas, Tommy Heffernan
Genres: comedy, dark comedy, horror
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
A man cursed with a sudden terrible affliction must survive a new-job presentation while at the mercy of time — and his bowels.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A guy literally can't stop shitting during his first-day pitch—it's the kind of premise that makes you wince and laugh simultaneously, which is exactly where subversive comedy lives. Most scouts would scrub this the second they read the logline; that's precisely why it works.
The film's structure—trapping escalating bodily humiliation within the rigid formality of corporate performance—recalls a lineage from Bunuel to Haneke, though the execution here prioritizes shock over the philosophical weight that would elevate it to their register.
The masterstroke is the sound design: every gurgle and ambient bathroom noise bleeding into the presentation space creates dread without showing anything, turning constraint into the entire technique that makes seven minutes feel genuinely claustrophobic.
Reviews
"What's That Smell?" from the Evil Gold Team, won first place with its high production value, comedic concept and amazing acting.