Comedy that makes you cringe: Who'd have thought it would find its niche? (Hello, "Curb Your Enthusiasm.") Palo Alto filmmaker Jarrod Whaley seems to be traversing that terrain. He bills his new feature flick, "Hell Is Other People," as a "comedy of awkwardness."
Apparently some people like 75 minutes of feeling uncomfortable. Whaley's film is getting its world premiere on Feb. 27 at Cinequest. Shot in Chattanooga, from whence Whaley hails, the film follows the seriously underemployed Morty (Richard Johnson), who can't seem to get it together. Still, this isn't a story about nothing. Morty plays psychiatrist to a passenger in his Jeep, tries to shake down his friends for cash, and gets a haircut.
"The characters are aimless, maybe, but the film is not," Whaley is quoted as saying on CQ Central. "It takes aim, I hope, at all those countless recent films in which nothing happens apart from privileged middle-class kids grumbling and whining about the banality which comes with their privilege. Beyond that, 'Hell Is Other People' is funny (I hope), even as it sows discomfort."
A few other local folks are lending their visions to Cinequest this year. Palo Alto native James Franco jumps from acting ("Milk," "Spider-Man," et al.) to directing with a five-minute drama called "The Feast of Stephen." It'll be shown March 4 and 5 as part of an international series of shorts. According to New York Magazine, Franco's film is inspired by a work of gay poetry by Anthony Hecht.
Meanwhile, local residents Jason Sussberg (Stanford University) and Brian Pahl (De Anza College) have their short films represented in a Cinequest student short competition.
Apparently some people like 75 minutes of feeling uncomfortable. Whaley's film is getting its world premiere on Feb. 27 at Cinequest. Shot in Chattanooga, from whence Whaley hails, the film follows the seriously underemployed Morty (Richard Johnson), who can't seem to get it together. Still, this isn't a story about nothing. Morty plays psychiatrist to a passenger in his Jeep, tries to shake down his friends for cash, and gets a haircut.
"The characters are aimless, maybe, but the film is not," Whaley is quoted as saying on CQ Central. "It takes aim, I hope, at all those countless recent films in which nothing happens apart from privileged middle-class kids grumbling and whining about the banality which comes with their privilege. Beyond that, 'Hell Is Other People' is funny (I hope), even as it sows discomfort."
A few other local folks are lending their visions to Cinequest this year. Palo Alto native James Franco jumps from acting ("Milk," "Spider-Man," et al.) to directing with a five-minute drama called "The Feast of Stephen." It'll be shown March 4 and 5 as part of an international series of shorts. According to New York Magazine, Franco's film is inspired by a work of gay poetry by Anthony Hecht.
Meanwhile, local residents Jason Sussberg (Stanford University) and Brian Pahl (De Anza College) have their short films represented in a Cinequest student short competition.
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