Daniels

Daniels are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

This absurdist film-making duo may hide their deep philosophical genius behind a smokescreen of bro-ness and potty humour but don’t be fooled, there’s nothing stupid about their work. Well, no that’s not true, there’s plenty of stupid stuff but it’s the right sort of stupid - the sort of stupid that’s sublime.

Take Interesting Ball, a fast-cutting, beautifully produced and utterly ridiculous short film in which a series of bonkers events are linked by a red ball that bounces through the shots. A man gets sucked into his best friend’s bum when a gag goes wrong, a bunch of bros on the beach turn into a massive transformer and squash a girl by mistake, a grieving lady’s fridge breaks free and runs down the street while she screams down the phone at a juvenile prank caller, an unlikely couple in a cafe have a metaphysical breakup, and a woman has extramarital sex with a red ball. The film ratchets up into a gorgeous crescendo of insanity with a surging score as every scene escalates out of control in a mania that is perfectly summed up by one of the beach bros’ doleful exclamation: ‘How did things get so fucked up so quick?’ It’s crazy, but it makes complete sense in an infinite universe where anything can happen. Interesting Ball is hands down the best short film I have ever seen. Watch it:

A red ball bounces past a cafe and a couple folks’ houses and then goes to the beach. — DAZED presents a film by DANIELS See http://dazeddigital.com/video for all of this week’s new films — SUBSCRIBE to https://vimeo.com/channels/dazed to receive updates on select new films, or visit http://dazeddigital.com/video for every film from Dazed’s landmark online series of groundbreaking, commissioned and curated original video content. Weekly video takeovers, original documentaries, art, music and style. Declare Independence - #dazedvisionaries — CAST: An Interesting Ball Harol - Bryan Condon Sharely - Ani Raya-Flores Cafe Scene Waymond - Waymond Lee Djenna - Rosa Handelman Buttsuckers Daniel - Daniel Kwan Daniel - Daniel Scheinert Prank Backy Rotch - Allyn Rachel Pranker - Asa Seret Michael Rotch - Jonathan Wang Broformers Ashley - Jesse Fleece Doog - Dugan O’Neal Abanda - Kourtney Gleason bros: Mike Dempsey John Lyke Mark Golembeski Mike Yorke Mike Riccitelli Kyle Garrity Mark Rosen cops: Timothy Eulich Jason Kisvarday An Interesting Ball story by: Justin Becker Broformers story by: Benjamin & Alex Brewer Prank story by: Dustin Emerson Straube & Daniel Scheinert Executive Produced by: Ravi Amaratunga Juliette Larthe Margo Mars Ali Brown Produced by: Daniel Scheinert & Stefanie Lynch Cinematography by: Larkin Seiple Matt Sanderson Production Design by: Jason Kisvarday Ali Rubinfeld Editing by Paul Rogers Daniel Kwan Score by: Alessandro Tabora Art Team: Kelsi Ephraim Carli Moloney Assistant Directed by: Jesse Fleece 1st AC: Jonathan Dec Zac Adams Ken Tanaka 2nd AC: Mike Tubridy Gaffer: Matt Ardine Set Assistance by: Eleanor Marks Hair & Makeup by: Eleanor Marks Wardrobe by: Corban Poorboy Caleb Jackson Additional Editing: Kyle Brown Kyle Gilbertson Special Effects by: Brandon Hirzel (BEMO) Kirsten Lepore James Kwan Coloring by: Ricky Gausis (MPC LA) Sound Design by: Brent Kiser AndrewTwite Special Thanks: Rebecca Davis Prettybird Staff Kitchen Mouse Justin Gaar Ted Tremper Samantha Margherita Charm City Cakes Laura Gonzalez Julie Hook Joyce Kim Elisha Yaffe Tasha McCrory Helena Gaar — Find DAZED on: http://dazeddigital.com/video Facebook https://facebook.com/DazedandConfusedMagazine Twitter https://twitter.com/dazedmagazine Tumblr http://dazeddigital.tumblr.com Pinterest https://pinterest.com/dazeddigital

Now that you’ve watched it I’m sure you’ll share in my excitement about the first feature film by Daniels, Swiss Army Man starring Daniel Radcliffe as a flatulent corpse (props to Radcliffe! I have so much respect for that guy now.) Swiss Army Man won a Sundance Award last month despite being one of the most controversial films in the festival and the most walked out on. I guess some people just don’t like fart jokes. But if this film is anything like their shorts it will be on the surface a film full of toilet humour, but on closer look a beautiful love song, a nostalgic treatise on friendship, a heartrending eulogy, and a comment on the universe.

I can’t wait for it to come to the UK. No idea when that will be if/when but when they announce it, I'll update this entry.