There's an easy riposte: You think that's boring, wait 'til you see the actual afterlife, and try stopping halfway through. What's half of eternity?
But I commented earnestly over there: "My favorite might be the conversation, and not because of the particular things they say about the afterlife, but because of the interesting interior where they are sitting and the way each of them is reading a different book and has a different style mug in front of them. It's just a nicely set up, gentle contrast between the 2, who ultimately have hit it off, despite taking somewhat opposing positions on the afterlife. There's a gentleness to it that I find very appealing. Both roles played by one person, Baron Ryan. As a commenter says [at TikTok] 'Your chemistry with yourself is amazing.'"
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28 comments:
Woody Allen for millennials. The nebbish personna is there only wanting a Keaton as foil.
Watching this video now. It's super-cool and amazing. Thanks Althouse.
He looks a bit short for Baron. How about Woody?
Also he says he doesn't like to overthink, but this video is way overthought.
Still, funny and talented.
He seems lonely but I'm kind of jealous!
Okay, his videos kind of suck.
We can't hear the dialog because you're playing the music during the dialog. You've spent your whole life watching movies and you've never noticed that you need to avoid the music/dialog conflict?
ha ha ha
I was berating myself for going to film school and now I'm like, dude, go to film school
also you might pay a few bucks to an actual editor (preferably someone who's been to film school).
The person who shot the video about you is a way better filmmaker than you are. That person, whoever they are, really knows how to put a movie together. They should advance and get a job as a director somewhere. You, on the other hand, are a writer who needs to go to film school.
okay, so this video is beautifully shot, and it's funny. Running the music during the dialog still distracts the hell out of me. Turn off the music!
Is he not making any money from this? I guess that makes sense. He's got a million viewers, but they're not paying anything. That's not a viable business model.
On the other hand, filmmakers definitely learn by doing. The more videos you shoot, the better you're going to be. Now I'm thinking he can skip film school. Just turn off the fucking music! Holy shit.
Also if I was producer, what I would think about before I invested any money is whether he can transform from this 1-minute genre into a 90-minute long-form piece. But making a name for yourself on Tik Tok really does seem like a possible stepping stone to a viable business.
The other note I have is that he writes "smart" which is extremely popular with a certain type of producer.
Finally I found one without music.
Love it!
I'm pretty sure you've featured him before. And I found him tedious before. In fact, I'm pretty sure 'tedious' is the exact word I used. He's playing Woody Allen. Only he's not Woody Allen.
I don’t like Woody Allen. Beyond creepy.
This person seems innocent- not condescending. Whimsical.
And, yes- featured before in the small talk tictok. It was so weird- I’d shown it to my 30yr old daughter: she’s like- wtf was that lol!
It reminds me of a conversation I had with some friends about cloning. If the cloned version of me came into existence about the same age as me, would we be be friends? Or if I raised it as a child, would there be some DNA personality traits that drove me crazy? Would it end up a lot like me? If my husband got cloned, would his cloned version fall in love with my cloned version? See, lots of questions.
Personally, I think I'd rather watch someone sawing logs.
Ha! As I was typing my response last night about the 'Afterlife' discussion, I was thinking "I know Ann loves 'Dinner with Andre', and this skit has that vibe", so I figured it was one which you would have liked.
As far as the afterlife being boring, I have a different expectation of the afterlife that it will blow this one out of the water. But even if I'm wrong, and it will be boring, why would I then want to sit around and try to make this one just as boring with boring conversation?
OK, I had a long day yesterday and got to the blog later in the evening, looking forward to some Tik-Tok diversions, but the particular selections just seemed mundane to me. Maybe a combination of that and my mood. Tell you what, I'll go back to 'Afterlife conversation' and watch it all the way through this time; no promises of liking it any better, but who knows, my morning viewpoint might have me seeing it differently.
I agree that he's like Woody Allen, but he's like a rejuvenated, de-creepified Woody Allen. Also, much better looking.
Looks like the internet ate several of my comments on this thread.
Okay, so feedback.
1. The way you avoid being derivative of an artist that you love (and every artist is influenced by other artists) is by loving multiple artists, and exposing yourself to thousands of films. That can take years but it's all part of the education.
2. Playing the music during dialog is a horrible idea. If you watch a lot of movies you might notice that the music doesn't conflict with the dialog. Your music/dialog conflict made several of these videos unwatchable for me. The human ear has to struggle to hear the dialog and it's competing with the music for attention. So your audience is a second or two behind where they need to be and it will take them out.
3. You need to have a feature screenplay ready if you get any kind of break and some producer shows interest in your mini-videos.
4. The producer's main fear will be that these one-minute videos won't translate to a feature film because those are completely different artistic skill sets. I don't know if Tik Tok allows 90-minute videos but if you can make a funny one that is a possible way to make the leap from "no pay Tik Tok filmmaker" to getting paid to make movies.
5. Whoever made that mini-documentary about you is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker and you might want to have a lunch with them and discuss the business side. Are they getting paid? Because their mini-documentary is very professional, while right now you're just a talented amateur.
Also, don't worry about reminding people of Woody Allen. Whit Stillman reminds people of Woody Allen, too. And his work is amazing. He's a Republican playing in that division, which is why his work never went anywhere.
(Hillbillies will love Barcelona).
Yeah well based on what we know about physics in the universe the afterlife will be like being under a general anesthetic no dreaming no life nothing. It's the ultimate in time travel because there is absolutely no sense of time passing. And then on the other side of eternity when your Elementary particles coalesce into a being you'll be reawakened in your next incarnation. Don't worry none of your behavior will impact your next version of self. God roles dice.
It won't be a Shirley MacLaine where you were a king or queen. More likely a bug or rat or flea or a char woman.
I actually like that clip. I like a lot of them, and look forward to your postings. I guess I should comment more, I think there is a bias in the comments towards the negative.
I've watched that heaven one three times and it still cracks me up.
Is the afterlife boring? I recommend watching "The Good Place," the very funny sitcom from a few years ago that works in serious discussions of philosophy and religion. At the very end of the final season (SPOILER), the main characters have finally reached their peaceful, perfect version of heaven. And after being there a very long time (thousands of years? millions? I don't remember), most of them decide they're ready to enter "oblivion" and end their existence entirely.
Excellent choice, my hostess.
Speaking of the afterlife, there's a great Japanese movie called After Life that's really cool.
The people in this movie are at a way station while they pick the one memory from their life on earth to take with them on their journey. Philosophical, fun, great movie.
On TikTok, I rather enjoy the musings and banter of "flickerspark_" she plays two characters, one mortal the other not, in charge of guiding the recently deceased into the afterlife and possible reincarnation. It's hilarious.
All he needs is a beautiful, slightly off kilter female verbalist to sit on the otherside of the table for repartee and this young man and his act would be good to go.
@ brentfinley
Thanks. Yes, please do comment more. Positive is good.
“… Japanese movie called After Life that's really cool.”
Yes. I’ve seen that.
Make a double feature with the American “Defending Your Life.”
Didn't watch any of these; maybe next time. But I did learn the Swedish word for baron yesterday evening during my nightly episode of Beck, Friherre. No idea how to say 'American baron' in Swedish since the only other word I know, for some reason lost in the mists of time, is Pingst, Pentecost.
I love the idea of an alien trying to understand humanity, and taking notes. That's funny as shit.
There's a lot of brilliant stuff here. I could write a few pages on why "God is out to lunch" is hilarious. I watched that movie three times, and laughed out loud on all three viewings. Typically humor stops working after multiples viewings. (I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail one too many times, and now it's unwatchable for me and not funny at all).
Anyway, to make a TikTok short ("God is out to lunch") that I watch three times, and laugh on all three occasions, is kind of amazing. I was in my car driving back from breakfast and I had a thought about that video and it made me laugh again.
Among other things that crack me up is that he wants God and the afterlife to be holy and spiritual, and he's surprised that it's more like a boring and conventional business meeting. This cracks me up because heaven is God's house and what we want is irrelevant. "I want to talk to my Lord and Savior!" I love that line.
I have no doubt whatsoever that heaven will surprise us.
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