Darling Darling

Best use of taxidermy ever. Darling Darling is a hilarious piece of candy that tastes like original film-making at it's best. Michael Cera of Arrested Development mastered his portrayal of the awkward teenager once again. Even the old people attending the Palm Springs Film Festival couldn't help but enjoy this "twisted tale." Director Matthew Lessner has a style that I can say is truly unique. Keep up the good work Matt. This is such a cheesy post but I need to fill up 10 lines. Everything is true though, it really is great. If you get the chance to see this film and you don't go see it then you should feel bad and cry a lot knowing it was probably your only chance.

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Darling Darling for the second time at the 2005 Palm Springs Film Festival, and let me tell you, the absolute absurdity of Darling Darling had me nearly on the floor from laughing so hard. I haven't seen absurdity this funny since Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life", although that description won't prepare you for what happens in this film. It also contains one of the most original and hilarious guitar solos ever put to celluloid. Period. Michael Cera's straight performance had me sold the whole time, and Mr. Darling is priceless. I certainly hope to see more from Matthew in the future. A great and truly unique short all around!

like a modern day equus, we can feel the internal struggles and deep hurting of the main character through his eloquently displayed subtle performance. the movie is about power. the power of love. and the power of music. you can tell, through the sincerity of the stunning lensing of this celluloidal triumph, how close the director is to his subject. is it art imitating life, or life imitating art? this is a question we may never know the answer to. all I know is that life is short, but not as short as this film (unless you only live to be 13 minutes old, which at that point, you would never have enough time to learn how to read or surf the web to find this review). BRAVO!!!!

i'm not exactly sure what to say about this film. it's stiflingly original, seething with subtle uproariousness, next descriptive adjective. one thing about this film i can say for sure, it jolted and altered me. it introduced me to a brand of comedy i had been all to unfamiliar with. mr. darling gave me hope in a girlfriends father, maybe someday father in law, that isn't a brutal judge of character, but rather an genuinely interesting subversion with the inner workings of a unbiased saint. this film has been an inspiration to me as a film viewer and as a human being. i expect many good things to come of young writer/director matthew lessner.

I saw this short before a main feature at The Coolidge Corner Movie House in Brookline, MA and was completely unprepared for what I saw. It's a surreal story involving a teenage boy coming to pick up his date and having to wait with her father while she finishes getting ready. This very surreal, yet good natured film is like the flip side to "Eraserhead"-an outward manifestation of the protagonist's inner anxiety. Only instead of bleak and dark, the situations are absurd and benign (the film is well lit in warm sunny tones, which add to the otherworldliness of the events). The parents of his date are more than a little bit strange, yet well intentioned and genuinely friendly towards the boy-and completely oblivious to the non sequiturs and general weirdness that abounds. No sense of malice, just a series of random events, surreal set pieces, and one very unsettled boy. I really enjoyed this short film and feel fortunate to have seen it on the big screen. If you get a chance to catch it, do so-it is as unique a film going experience as one is likely to see and a genuine pleasure.