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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Zach Woods’s David is the first comedy I got to see at the Tribeca Film Festival. His directorial debut is a short film that had me puzzled and yet chuckling during every minute. He has also co-written this project with Brandon J. Gardner.
The following content of this review will contain spoilers, as the title of this article suggests. Therefore, please be on the lookout!
Plot Summary
Below is the synopsis for the film, as per the Tribeca Film Festival website.
“David (William Jackson Harper) needs help. So does David (Fred Hechinger).”
Will Ferrell appears as David (Harper)’s therapist, as well as David (Hechinger)’s father.
In smaller roles, Corey Jantzen plays Andy Doan, while Sebastian Vale plays a wrestling referee.
Discussion
The reason why I say this film had me puzzled is that the synopsis is particularly vague. To add, Tribeca’s photo of William Jackson Harper did not help, either. I really thought that this was going to be a dramatic short. I had assumed this from the opening scene of Harper’s David giving his therapist a call. They discuss his routine behavior and then Ferrell begins to deliver as great a performance as Robin Williams once did in Good Will Hunting. That is until the other David (Hechinger), a high school wrestling athlete, enters the picture.
Maybe it was Andre Lascaris’s cinematographic framing, but something caught my eyes as Ferrell delivered his lines. Hechinger’s David thinks he has it all figured out, and when we first see him, his hubris has already kicked in. His interruption of the dramatic narrative changes the tone that the story is going for. In fact, there was a point where I could see Harper and Ferrell each almost trying not to break character.
Lascaris’s camera work does get a bit shaky, but that can be excusable. I have to applaud Adina Sullivan’s hair and makeup as well as Briana Jorgenson’s costume design for the characters’ looks. Jessica Shorten’s production design should also be lauded for the neat therapist’s office. Everything seems to fit the dramatic tone, with the exception of Hechinger and his character’s “vibes.”
Final Thoughts
In terms of action, not a lot happens. Instead, it is the way things are said that really drives the plot of the short film. Ferrell and Harper deliver some lovely performances, with Hechinger making me laugh at his crying. Frankly, Zach Woods is truly one of the best people to have come from HBO’s Silicon Valley. To see him go from The Office and that series and then transition into filmmaking is wonderful. One example in David that serves as evidence of this is the film’s tidbit about ISIS’s use of grenades.
With that said, with Gardner and Woods’s writing, you will either love this short film or just think it’s okay.
David is available for viewing at the Tribeca Film Festival!
Have you seen this short film? If you have already, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know! For more comedy-related news and reviews, follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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