Popular reviews

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  Review by emma bean

  i've never attempted acting, but the LA-centric despair in OK, GOOD speaks to the particular brand of hopelessness my decades spent in southern california have instilled in myself. and while i love films, i can't believe so many of them are made here and totally fail to omit the pervasive air of what art critic peter plagens called "sunny existentialism... sort of sunny, white-bread, mayonnaise, sun outside, but back to that wide boulevard shot, you know, nothing really happening," that is actually the heart of the county's soul. this film appreciates that the venice boardwalk and griffith park are probably out there somewhere, but in reality one in los angeles must inevitably pass the national boulevard exit on the westbound…

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  Review by Joel Duscher ★★★★½

  I’ve never really had experience with professional acting or having to audition for roles but if I had, this movie would’ve legitimately ended it all for me. The easiest two in the brain of all time. 

  While the threat of suicide probably doesn’t sound like a positive review, this ruled so much. Huge recommend. Gonna text my acting friends right now to make sure they’re okay.

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  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★★

  This is an extremely obscure one that Mubi have dug out for a few of their foreign sites.

  It's about a struggling actor dragging himself through endless demoralising TV ad auditions who succumbs to the pressure of failure, coupled with a copy shop that can't get his head shots right and an intense movement workshop that just causes him more stress.

  All three collide, he gradually falls apart, and it climaxes with a destructive ending that is so lengthy that it risks losing its impact somewhat. Even so, this is an interesting look at the pressures of modern life and how attempts to manage those pressures can end up being counter-productive themselves. There are a couple of scenes where people…

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  Review by Lucinda ★★★★

  Piles on the humiliations until it becomes absolutely excruciating, with struggling actor Paul Kaplan's depressingly dated wardrobe and apartment decor (baggy dress shirts, a CD rack, a fax machine, a fucking Frente! CD) suggesting that his psychological battering by indifference and rejection might have been going on for a decade or more. I would love to have seen the extended final meltdown sequence with an audience but instead I endured it on my own, probably making it feel less funny but even more brutal and despairing.

  Hugo Armstrong inhabits his character so well that it was jarring to see him appear as a cool and chill dude in the post-screening Q&A.

  Another great Static Vision stream that was totally worth getting out of bed for!

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  Review by Elijah Johnston ★★½

  the longest 80 minutes of my life.

  there's probably 35 minutes of really solid filmmaking in here, and the story is one worth telling- that of a broke, unsuccessful guy trying to be an actor in an impossible environment. his eventual slip into depression and madness are well thought out and conveyed well for some of this, especially with the recurring use of new age self-help mantras to serve as soundtrack and Greek chorus.

  but man, this thing just shouldn't be this long. there are so many sequences that go way beyond their expiration date, and lots of scenes that are dead from the jump. the film has a really strong back half, from the 40-60 minute mark, but the…

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  Review by Kurdt ★★★½ 4

  I've never been an actor or ever thought of being one, but I imagine this might be one of the best depictions of the soul-crushing rejection and constant desperate pleas to impress casting directors for those struggling in the profession. Those acting workshops on display here seem utterly ridiculous - people howling, screeching, acting like animals etc - yet probably aren't too far from similar classes where people try to expand their range. Being in a business where you're constantly trying to sell yourself - from your performance, your headshots, how you sound on a voicemail - it's easy to imagine how nitpicky one must get over little things and begin to fall into a hole of self-hatred when nothing…

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  Review by Mike Ginn ★★★★

  Almost no one has seen this and it’s very worth watching. Funny, dark but not edgy, free on Amazon.

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  Review by Slappy McGee ★½

  Film #26 in MY YEAR OF MUBI

  A perfect example of a short film that is hiding in a full feature's body.

  It's a funny idea of an commercial actor trying to make it in the LA commercial film world and slowly losing grip on reality. Funny concept and a good build. However, there is no way this movie should be longer than 30 minutes. The idea simply doesn't translate into feature length. Not enough "meat on the bone" as it were.

  People usually ask at this point: "well what would you cut?"
  The answer is: a fucking lot.

  You could cut almost ALL of the acting class scenes. Or edit them down to less than a minute each. They…

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  Review by Ben Gordon ★★★★½

  This is sort of like Michael Haneke's THE SEVENTH CONTINENT if it were about a wannabe commercial actor. Hugo Armstrong portrays Paul Kaplan ("I'm Paul Kaplan!"), a man who has endured countless commercial auditions but can never seem to land even the smallest of jobs. He lives an isolated existence that is only alleviated through self-help tapes and occasional acting workshops where people writhe around on the floor and bark at each other like animals. As Paul copes with a life of constant rejection, an inner rage begins to rear its ugly head. Director Daniel Martinico frames his film with claustrophobic close-ups that rarely emphasize the subjects within them, contributing to the off-kilter and unsettling vibe. Armstrong is outstanding in…

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  Review by Tom Walker ★★★★★

  I think about this once a week

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  Review by 더 프 ★★★★★

  Wow. The kind of work that needs more audience. Martinico's mise en scène reminded of Dupieux and/or Tukel comedies, and Bujalski character improv. Here is the harsher film version of that side of La La Land, with audition scenes paralleled that of Mulholland Dr.. Fantastic, ribald, and post-empire central performance in its treatment of humiliation and misery. A

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  Review by Dan Hassler-Forest ★★½

  Low-budget depiction of the degrading hell it must be for many trying to make it as an actor.