Links of the Week: Two Good Films
PICKLED HERRING and I LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE will both make you laugh/shudder, but for different reasons.
One cool thing about having creative friends is that you don’t have to look far for engaging things to watch. This has become especially useful lately, since major media companies seem more interested in suppressing wages and deleting movies than making anything particularly compelling to watch.
Lucky for me, I caught two wildly different but extremely entertaining short films from friends recently. Lucky for you, I’m going to share them! Right now!
Pickled Herring
Pickled Herring, directed by and starring Milana Vayntrub, is based on the true story of writer
’s life under the temporary care of her Russian immigrant father while she recovered from a major accident.The film centers on the relationship between Vayntrub’s character Irina and her father Lev, played by Dimiter Marinov. Vayntrub is best known as Lily, the ubiquitous AT&T spokesperson, but here she gets the chance to show off real acting chops. She manages to remain funny and compelling, even as Irina is bound to a wheelchair in the eye of Lev’s old country-style hurricane. Marinov is also excellent, finding great comedy in Lev’s simultaneous efforts to understand his daughter’s modern Los Angeles lifestyle, and fix everything he doesn’t like about it.
Despite their bickering, both characters are easy to spend 15 minutes with. This is largely due to great writing, which is unsurprising to me as Marina’s friend and former co-worker. Emotional beats deftly transition into laugh-out-loud moments throughout, as Irina and Lev descend into emotional claustrophobia. This isn’t the first time that Marina has explored her relationship with her father, but Pickled Herring sets you right between the two of them and invites you to enjoy the spectacle. You will!
Somebody make this into a feature, already. Or, if you don’t happen to be a big-time Hollywood producer, at least watch the short on YouTube.
I Live In Your House
After watching I Live In Your House, you’ll never think of Reed Vilhelm the same way again. And if you’ve never thought of him before? Then consider yourself lucky…
Reed is the friendly(?) neighbor(?) played by writer-director Patrick McDonald in his short horror-comedy. New homeowner Valerie (Amanda Lehan-Canto) meets Reed as he’s power-walking past her porch, and Reed’s subsequent joke(?) about living inside her recently purchased house launches her into a sleepless paranoia.
In real life, Patrick is one of the friendliest human beings ever produced in the long history of our noble species. Here, however, his overt Nice Guy Energy becomes sinister when Reed repeatedly insists that he lives somewhere in Valerie’s home. Is he serious? Is it a weird joke? Valerie doesn’t know, and despite extensive searching, she’s unable to reassure herself.
I Live In Your House swerves between comedy and dread like a lo-fi Jordan Peele movie. At its center is a relatable anxiety about the trappings of adulthood. It’s not easy to give strangers any benefit of the doubt, especially those who make you uncomfortable. But what happens when doubt starts to infect your whole life? Is it better to trust, or to suspect?
Either way, Reed Vilhelm will still be out there.
Really enjoyed both of them.