Improv is Love
From the Archives
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Comedy, Short Films, 19-Jan-2018
As his father suffers in the hospital, Dylan forgoes a chance to see him in favor of performing with his small-time improv comedy troupe at a local club. Brilliantly conceived as a comment on those of us so consumed by artistic pursuits (perhaps of questionable societal value?) that we fail to recognize actual life and death going on around us. The situation at home is serious enough that his whole family is there, except for Dylan. Stammering on the phone, trying to explain to his sick father that he can’t make it tonight because he has to perform in the “cage match,” (some sort of improv tournament) is delivered with the exact right amount of self-involved whininess meant to express passion. Hearing Dylan try to explain to his father the difference between his last improv team and the new indie group might feel heartbreakingly familiar to anyone who’s ever had a dream their parents don’t understand. But seen here with the biting precision of outside perspective, it’s tremendously painful to watch. And it sets up a true gut-buster closing jab. Written by and starring Matt Barats, perfectly in his own head, and directed by Doron Max Hagay, the man of the day, “Improv is Love” is a scathing but hilarious critique on comedians, artists, anyone, with their priorities in wild disarray. -KA.
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