You Look Great Review: What Happens When Male Friendships Gain Substance | Brooklyn Film Festival

"You look great, dude."

A harmless compliment from one male friend, Kyle, to the other, Ryan, turns what should have been a regular hangout into a tense, comical negotiation on masculinity and mental health.

Photo via @vinzfeller on Instagram

There’s a lot of discourse around the loneliness epidemic in men. However, Vinz Feller has effectively written and directed an indie short about what happens when men use their friendships to be vulnerable and feel connectedness.

In the film, You Look Great, Ryan is introduced in a red room, dramatically extracting tears in a mirror. As he floats out of the bathroom, it’s revealed that he’s in public.

Kyle, his long-term friend, notices his soft smile and orgasmic glow, and like a true bud, throws him a compliment. Little does Kyle know that those words mean much more than he intended.

Kyle and Ryan begin to reveal things like “Daily crying makes me feel lighter”, “I just started a skincare routine”, and “How do you know we’re not straight?”, filling the coffee shop with stints of silence, stares, confusion, learning, and acceptance.

Non-verbal communication and the Meisner technique elegantly carry this eight-minute short film, as the audience watches the characters develop and process a new level in their friendship.

You Look Great is funny, thought-provoking, tender, revealing, and enigmatic.

This film had its world premiere in the narrative short category at the Brooklyn Film Festival.