Dinner Party N1

The first thing you’ll notice about Tom Duthie’s terrific new science-fiction drama Dinner Party N1 is its engrossing, subjective direction. There’s an immediacy to the storytelling which skilfully hooks in the viewer from the outset, and guides us through its distressing twists and turns. As we follow our awkward protagonist through his irksome dinner party interactions, one gets the sense that something isn’t right. Yet the way in which the true nature of the film’s world is revealed to us is so subtle, behavioural, and intelligently-paced that we wholeheartedly believe in the reality we’re witnessing. Because the emotions present are so easy to empathise with – that of social anxiety and alienation – it means that as we delve into big genre concepts, the audience is completely invested. There are many technical reasons why the piece is successful; - but it’s quite astounding that the movie works so well on a visceral level of engagement and suspense. And you could even argue that this all starts with the performances...

A masterstroke of this movie is the casting of performers who are able to treat high-concept or expositional dialogue the same way as they treat grounded, conversational dialogue. All the acting is truly great; it allows the spectator to believe in the scenario, as well as fully comprehend the amusing (and often disturbing) dynamics at play. Each character is written with a clear purpose in mind, which is to operate on two different levels simultaneously. We need to find the cringeworthy chat real and relatable, whilst also buying into the later sci-fi reveal, which should recontextualise the hostile sensibilities seen previously. The film not only pulls this off, but does so smoothly and pleasingly. Similar to a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf type narrative, the tension builds and builds until all the emotions come flying out. But what makes this picture different is how it uses its sci-fi concepts to layer the story with deeper and more politically provocative meaning.

The manner in which music, sound, and aesthetics in general are implemented is practically perfect. It’s just a fabulously well-made movie, whose cinematography and design have clearly been constructed with great thought and care. These formal strengths complement the content of the piece, which is even more interesting. For instance, the story’s climax is gruesome and shocking in all the best ways, and is so clearly an example of technique and story working perfectly in tandem. Arguably, very few low-budget shorts hold the power to viscerally stun its audience with this kind of crescendo of suspense, yet Dinner Party N1 makes it look easy. This short film holds your attention from start to end due to its story, its construction, and its outstanding performances. The best science-fiction reflects fully the state of the world today, and this ambitious project accomplishes saying a hell of a lot without being too obvious. The piece is destined to reach a wide audience since it works both as a work of realism and as a work of genre; and that’s a sign of expert movie-making.