It's Not You It's Me

Reading the synopsis of Matt Spicer's dark comedy it read " A young woman's relationship takes a dark turn when every sound her boyfriend starts to make annoys her " I bet you're thinking exactly what I was thinking . It was a story that was going to be entirely confined to one set and most of it would be told via sound effect . Hey I bet there wouldn't even be any dialogue . . This isn't in fact how things work out so in a type of back handed compliment congratulations to Matt for confounding my predictable expectations . That said the unexpected elements don't work in any great detail when you stop to consider them in anyway which is always problematic in a film that has a very short running time . Not only that but there's also a very disjointed feel especially considering the time frame which in a ten minute film seems to span several years which means IT'S NOT YOU IT'S ME is something of a failure and a mean spirited one at that

I adore Gillian Jacobs.

She's as severe in her expression of cynicism and agitation as she is both warm and dry in her comedy, and her unnamed role as "Babe" here seems like it was written just for her. Jacobs has a natural grace about her that allows her to slip into any part with ease.

It's a joy, too, to see Fran Kranz here, carrying the same sense of jocular innocence and naivete that he bears in larger, more notable roles.

Above all, this is just plain fun. The sound design employs a mix to pointedly overemphasize every little noise, and the makeup and blood effects are outstanding. The jarring acts that punctuate the short are played up with such casual outrageousness that we can't help but laugh out loud as the scenario unfolds. As director and writers, the Spicers have concocted a marvelous piece of darkly merry cinema that's as carefully crafted as it is lovingly, brilliantly executed.

This might be the most relatable horror-comedy feature I've ever seen, and certainly one of the funniest.

This little comedy short is quite dark but appealing because of how tightly it is structured. Very early in the film we are in familiar territory where we see a relationship where one partner has started to become irritated by everything the other one does to the point that even small things feel huge and things that were perhaps once charming no longer seem that way; it is a situation many can relate to whether they have been the subject of this or the cause (for me usually I am the latter case). So far so familiar but then the film quickly escalates from this to be much more extreme in content.

At first I felt that the place it went to was almost too dark and cruel since there was a certain amount of lingering on the violence of the situation; in his comment Theo said some of the film was mean spirited and, while I don't agree totally, I do see where he was coming from since at least once the camera lingered on suffering a bit too much. This aside though I thought the film escalated with a nicely comic tone and although ultimately it is pretty dark as a concept, I also found it quite amusing. The delivery is mostly good at this and keeps things snappy while the central performance from Jacobs.

It is not an amazing short film but it has a rich vein of darkness which it works in a funny way by how quick and punchy the delivery is since it is the impact of the events more than the actual content of them that makes the film work.