The Comedy (Rick Alverson | USA | 96 min.)
Much like Five Easy Pieces or Mike Leigh’s Naked, director Rick Alverson and lead actor Tim Heidecker have masterfully created a captivating character study about an unlikable character. (Fans of Tim and Eric should delight in seeing a new level of skillful acting from the duo.) With Swanson (Heidecker) and friends cracking wise at everything life has, the film is funny as hell. But watching this crew romp indulgently—beer wrestling and drunkenly playing wiffleball, scathingly critiquing each other with straight faces and stoner eyes—it would all be so much mindless naval gazing if not for the sense of melancholy which imbues their actions. One has to wonder if they are having fun while they’re having fun.

Heidecker’s hipster is on some type of Quixotic quest, making a fool (and an asshole) of himself while constantly misinterpreting how to relate to other people. He is attempting to find connection, but it always comes off wrong, whether dangerously getting down with some thuggish guys in a ghetto bar or badly trying to bond with an immigrant cab driver. Joining his father’s Latino gardening staff, he tricks the elitist estate managers, seemingly standing up for the workers, but then he walks off, his point being proven to no one. His anguish is palpable whenever he fails to get a smile.

All these hilariously inappropriate failings become a search for the essence of humanity, finding connection despite differences, and his search would be the same no matter his race, class or cultural background. He’s not looking to “better himself”—the film is smarter, edgier and more true than that platitude. He doesn’t know what he’s looking to do. But this biting nihilist comedy is worth seeing for the unique cultural critique of a man burning through life fast and raw, aching with the painful hope of the perpetually cynical.

- Mark Elijah Rosenberg

Burt Talks to the Bees (Isabella Rossellini | USA | 2 min.)
Meet the bees—the queen, the workers and the drones—in this wonderfully fantastic and wildly educational series of short films created by Isabella Rossellini, actress, director and uncanny Burt impersonator. Once you meet them, you’ll want to save them too. Visit www.wildforbees.com to see how.

Vacation Dad
"From the ass-crack album art, to titles like “The One Everyone Does the Limbo To,” to the all-encompassing dance-friendly delirium, Vacation Dad has embodied a levity and humor that is difficult to hold in synchronicity with the hardships and basic, ultra-sucky turn of events leading up to the band’s demise. “This is the last material I’ll release under Vacation Dad for a long time” is a statement that weighs heavy on the soul, given how much excitement Todryk’s EP Miss You generated just a month or so prior. Working on the label and doing production behind similarly favored new music find, Yohuna, are certain silver linings. But, for what it’s worth, as he hangs up his hat, Vacation Dad’s departure from the scene has not gone unlamented. And these are two really fantastic albums to play him off." -Coke Machine Glow