Though inspired by the very real and very turbulent partnership of filmmaker Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski, the film presents to you a singularly characteristic world that will absolutely refuse to leave even when you are done watching ‘My Dinner With Werner’. As the title of the near-namesake ‘My Dinner With Andre’ is turned on its head, we are presented with the scene of a dinner date with a disturbing predominance of…erm…chickens. 

Whether or not the viewer is familiar with Herzog and Kinski’s fifteen-year-long relationship, or the work two created together, the realm conjured by the film is sufficient to familiarize you with all the aspects that you need to be able to appreciate the drama unfolding before you. Replete with references that range from an irrational fear of birds, to a rifle incident gone quite nearly wrong, with a sprinkling of WrestleMania, the blind date stretches out its limbs, taking its time with each movement. Along with the director and his ‘friend’/actor, we have Christine, radiant, beautiful Christine, our crutch into this world of a bizarre friendship. 
 
A smooth edit and complementary visuals ensure that no path is left untaken in delivering a gloriously hilarious and entertaining outcome. The performances, chemistry, riffing become the silken ribbon that eventually ties the package together before it is presented to you to engage with.

My Dinner With Werner | Short Film of the Month

Right at the onset, with simply its title, the film sets the tone for several ideas pertaining to identity, beauty, and how we perceive ourselves, while also hinting at insecurities. 'Mirror' does not present a straightforward approach to these ideas, and instead, leaves it up to the viewer to make what they will of this tale which is marked by humor, unexpected moments of tension, and the plight of the protagonist amidst it all. 

Strange messages have been appearing on people’s mirrors all over the world, messages of encouragement, validation, and support. And yet, Dale’s message is far from that, it’s more of an attack on his personality. As he grapples with its meaning, the story takes the viewer down some very interesting paths. 

Is the film about Dale’s struggle with intimacy, and how he eventually overcomes it in an unexpected manner? Or is it a story of his deep unease with his own body, and its desires and wants, not without its undercurrents of homoeroticism, and is it only when he is able to make peace with all of it that a negative message finds a positive articulation in his life as well as the film? Or is it about none of this but an underlying threat of violence that takes him to a disconcerting corner, to an experience that he has sanitized for worldly consumption, giving people what they want to hear? 

The film raises all of these questions and answers none, and it is in these grey areas that it attains completion and becomes an entertaining, involving endeavor in storytelling.

Mirror | Short Film of the Month

You Killed Spencer! presents to the viewer a bizarre, comedic tale of the misadventures of two friends. Borrowing elements from a buddy film, and tying them together with the narrative's experiments with style, music and overall progression, the story takes us into a single moment in the lives of three friends. 

 While two of them discuss the validity of atoms and their role in our existence, the third friend remains detached and aloof, completely preoccupied with his phone. As his friends race each other to their home, he casually saunters behind, unaware of the fate that awaits him, one that involves a fragile, mottled egg. 

 Through the portrayal of these events, the short narrative endeavors a plot marked by its strangeness, comedic moments conjured at the expense of the characters, along with a general sense of ease and bantering that they share. The attempt comes across as a first step towards a journey of what can potentially be fun and effervescent storytelling.

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