Wise Words
2024 · 10m · USA
Directed by Samuel Centore
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
Inspired by a Sunday sermon, Peter resolves to help the first person he sees leaving church — a birder named Maude — while his partner Elliot tries (and fails) to flag a more pressing health issue. An eccentric comedy about misfiring compassion.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A film about charity that quietly mocks the smugness of charity — Centore plays it straight enough to fool the literal-minded, which is half the fun.
Stock-footage establishing shots glazed onto a misfired-compassion comedy gives this a pulpit-pamphlet uncanniness that could be quietly devastating. Stillman meets Dupieux is a real swing.
Using intentionally generic stock-footage establishing shots to give a misfiring-compassion comedy a pulpit-pamphlet glaze is a real formal move — that's the seam where Stillman meets Dupieux. Could be very funny.
Reviews
With its odd rhythms and intentionally generic stock footage establishing shots, the film maintains an uncanny quality that's both broad and esoteric.