"Next Floor" is a tidy little short I enjoyed. The story is simple and exists mostly to relay the theme. There isn't much to it, but it works for the film. It's peppered with enough existentialism to feel unique and abstract, but not so much as to become distracted by its premise. The real allure here is in the vile-looking food. This shines as an example of visual storytelling. It does more or less serve as one big attempt to demonstrate the strength of some set designer's work, and that's O.K. Almost all of the short centers around people gorging on food and collapsing through floors. I'm always impressed by a film which can tell its entire story with a few words. Is it repetitive? Yes. Are its insights on gluttony, greed, classism and a societal longing for distraction preachy and trite? Of course. What excuses the short, however, is that it's just that: a short. By the time gussied-up people creaking floorboards gets old, and by the time an audience member connects the dots and feels patronized, it's already over. It's a taut movie that isn't a waste of eleven minutes. You can find it on the Internet and understand it without knowing a word of French.
Review of Next Floor
