As A Joke

A short dark comedy written by Natalie Hay, Bri Power, directed by Phoebe Critchlow and Natalie Hay and starring Ben Xiao, Ru Gupte, Estee Poichot and Thomas Tricerri.

Owen (Xiao) has found himself in quite a situation: he has just murdered his best friend (Tricerri). Apparently, there had been an altercation between them in Owen's apartment and he shoved his friend roughly, causing him to fall and die on the kitchen floor. Now owen is panicking and does not know what to do. By accident, he grabs the attention of his smart home device and proceeds to ask advice regarding getting rid of the dead body.

The aftermath of a terrible incident, leading to an awkward interaction between a young man and an electronic device. The story starts off as a serious thriller, before turning into a darkly comical situation involving the disposal of a corpse. Owen desperately and repeatedly asks for the device's advice on what to do and he is given it, as he has tricked the device in to believing that he wants to learn how to get rid of a body as a joke. Dark humour, gore, drama and gruesomeness dominate this film.

The narrative is intriguing and amusing (as far as dark humour goes), however it ends in a sort of cliffhanger, which is OK, still though one might think that the story could had carried on beyond that point.

Xiao delivers an entertaining performance. His character is a naive (and as it turns out: bad-tempered and disturbed) guy who has suddenly found himself having to cover up his crime, all while being assisted by a device with a female voice (Gupte provides the voice for the device and it is named Mimi), like a child asking their mother for help to clean up their mess. In the blink of an eye, he turns into a killer and body mutilator.

This is a story about murder and consequences, desperation and it also serves as a comedic commentary about how much people rely on technology these days.

Three-and-a-half minutes of dark humour. A viewing that will most likely be amusing to those who enjoy dark comedies with very dark humour.