Her Friend Adam, which has shown at Sundance, and now at SXSW, is described as a short comedy, but this reviewer didn’t find one moment even remotely funny. The tagline for this short film was “16 minutes of romantic doom” and for me it was more to the liking of “16 minutes of my life that I can’t get back”.
I know that art, in all its forms is subjective, and that not everyone will be of the same opinion, and that is just fine with me. I try to find the good in everything I read or watch, and that is what I set out to do with this review. I will get to the good later, but it won’t be a long-winded good. Her Friend Adam is about a boyfriend’s sudden bout of jealousy that spirals out of control in 16 minutes of romantic doom. Yes, again with the tagline, but we already know my thoughts on that. Grace Glowicki plays Liv, artist girlfriend of Robert (played by screenwriter/director Ben Petrie) and the chemistry between the two is very apparent, and they do feed off each other well.
What I find funny are unscripted and unforced moments that happen in any given film or TV show, and if they are scripted, the moments are more organic,and natural. I guess I don’t find a painting of Minnie Mouse with her hooha hanging out very funny at all, nor the “Oh Boy” comment in Mickey Mouse’s voice either. I also did not find funny the story of her bowel problems, and the fact that she presented it to him like it was the highlight of her day.
I could tell right off the bat that Robert was may more into Liv than she was into him. It was the way she damn near avoided his kisses, and attempts to be romantic.Robert knew it as well, and another clue was actually the story of her bowel problems, and the other was that Her Friend Adam was coming over to get his camera. The argument, and what occurred afterwards was the better part of the whole short movie. However, the argument was a little long and over the top, especially on the part of Liv.
The reason for her being over the top is because she knows she is no longer feeling any love towards Robert, and you can tell that this realization is just now hitting him. When Adam (Andrew Chown) finally does show up, this is when Liv really goes over the top by suggesting that Robert ask Adam to go down on him, and maybe then everyone will feel better, or some such crap. I don’t think she made either man feel good, but that’s on her. Adam claims he finally made that a first as a gay man, oh yeah didn’t I mention that Adam is gay? My bad!
In the end, Robert walks out of the apartment with tears in his eyes, because he realized that Liv does not love him. Completely mirroring what happened in the beginning, with Robert snuggling and kissing her neck, Liv does the same when Adam gives her a hug. She even says the same thing to Adam that Robert said to her “I love you so much” and Adam (just like her) doesn’t say a word.
While I did not find the short film funny at all, I did appreciate it’s honesty and point in the end, which was that the person you love is not always going to love you back in the same manner! If It wasn’t for that bit of honesty, I would not have appreciated it at all. Of course, it is just my opinion.
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