From Omeleto.
A man and woman meet at a bar.
GUY MEETS GIRL is used with permission from Alex Forstenhausler. Learn more at https://alexforstenhausler.com.
At a cozy bar one night, a man is drinking at the counter when a woman sits near him. He looks over and she smiles, so he slides over and buys her a drink. They chat amiably, and when she decides to go home, he offers to walk her home.
The night seems full of romance and connection… or does it? From her perspective, it’s a different kind of night entirely.
Directed and written by Alex Forstenhausler, this short is a romantic comedy with a darkly acerbic twist. Like many rom-coms, it has a sense of quick wit, an aspirational atmosphere of urbane sophistication and the frisson of romantic promise. But as it parses out different perspectives of the same date in a RASHOMON-like way, it becomes a study of how perception and expectations can color reality, making for wildly different interpretations of the same event.
Part of the film’s cleverness and strength is how each side of the story leans into its separate genre. One side of the tale is a storybook classic romance, complete with a smooth jazz score, scintillating montage and low-lit cinematography that glows with a low-key seductiveness. But that shadowy aspect morphs into a more foreboding tone when the storytelling explores the woman’s perspective, which resembles a grittier urban thriller of an unstable, potentially dangerous man fixated on a vulnerable female. Certain narrative details get repurposed into a new story, told with jumpier, unsettled editing and a sense of irony.
Both sides of the story are exaggerated for cheeky effect in the telling, finding rueful comedy in how the quirks and throwaway moments of one side are misinterpreted in the parallel narrative. What unites both is the sturdy clarity of the directing and visuals and the agile performances of actors Gianmarco Soresi and Sarah Pribis, who find a balance between believable emotion and the screwball exaggerations of the comedy. They make both halves of the film grounded in recognizable and relatable emotion, whether they’re connecting or at odds with one another.
The opposed sides of GUY MEETS GIRL eventually converge in an ending that makes this pair’s ultimate fate clear and irrevocable — and not unlike a funny, slightly cringy misadventure that makes for a good anecdote later. But it does offer a gentle reminder to separate the projections we have of people and events from the reality happening right in front of us. It invites us to check our expectations, take note of our biases and observe what’s really happening in front of us — in hopes of better connections.
