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One Movie Punch


Dec 4, 2019

Hi everyone!

Welcome back for another review. Today, I’ll be reviewing ZÉRO M2 (2015), an incredible short film from Matthieu Landour Engel, multimedia artist and friend of the podcast. I’ve been conversing with Mat off and on since the podcast started, first about his Instagram comics, now for his excellent short film. I was lucky to connect with him recently to discuss today’s film, and I feel privileged to review the film for all of you. And if you like what you hear today, definitely head over to batcollective.tv where you can see more of Mat’s solo work, along with an immense library of animated shorts produced in collaboration with his spouse, Bali Engel.

All of this means we’ll have a bit of a format switch for today. Instead of the usual trailer segments, I’ll be interspersing segments from our interview throughout the review. If you like this format, be sure to check out our previous review/interviews for BULLITT COUNTY (Episode #549), THE CHAIR (Episode #550), ECHOES OF YOU (Episode #556), AFTER 82: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE AIDS CRISIS IN THE UK (Episode #591), and most recently for Reign of Terror 2019, ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (Episode #597), BLOOD ON THE REEL (Episode #612), and TABERNACLE 101 (Episode #619). Each episode also includes one or more Patreon episodes with the full interviews. One of our commitments in Year Three of One Movie Punch is to feature more independent filmmakers using this format. If you are an aspiring filmmaker, or you know one, contact the podcast and let us know you’re interested. We’re booking for Q1 2020 right now!

As for today’s full interview, well, we’re on the fence about releasing it to the public. Right now, outside One Movie Punch Tower, we’re dealing with a massive protest gathering, easily over a hundred thousand participants. News crews are showing up and, well, clearly we’ve stepped into a controversy that may be too big for our podcast to take. Please stay tuned after the episode for the latest on this developing situation.

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Here we go!

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Today’s movie is ZÉRO M2, the short film directed by Matthieu Landour Engel and written for the screen in collaboration with Nicolas Bovorasmy. Paul (Anthony Sonigo) is desperately searching for a flat in Paris when he finally finds a spacious place with a reasonable rent. After signing a contract and moving in, he soon discovers it is too good to be true, as the landlord exploits a very peculiar loophole in the contract.

No spoilers.

Short films are a surprisingly difficult format to master, part of the challenge being the great variety of stories that can be told depending on the length. The Academy considers any film under forty minutes to be a short film, but there’s a stark difference between telling a story for one minute and telling a story for forty minutes. You can’t fit LORD OF THE RINGS into a single minute, nor can you expand a five-minute scene into forty minutes. At least not easily. Feature length films are given a lot of leeway to tell a story, where a lot more can be forgiven within ninety minutes, but for short films, you need to make use of every single minute, especially if you want to tackle an issue like the housing crisis.

MATTHIEU: “Yes, ZÉRO M2 is totally a fable about the housing crisis. It actually came from when I was living in Paris. And I was living in a 14m2flat, or I mean a 14m2room with like a little toilet on the side, and I was living there not by myself, but living there with a girl, and we constantly tried to maximize the space.”

MATTHIEU: “It just went from constantly compressing the clothes to pieces of furniture that could go really high. There’s only so much you can do to maximize your space. So, things and objects piled and piled, and once I had a nightmare of being crushed, absolutely crushed by the flat, when I just realized I’ve got to try and move out, but also, that’s a good idea for a short.”

Relatability helps with telling the story. ZÉRO M2 may center around our protagonist Paul, but outside of the independently wealthy individuals that can afford to purchase housing in urban centers, everyone else is dealing with the urban housing crisis in one way or another. Which means as Paul meets and interacts with his neighbors, we can see the diversity of people affected by the crisis, and each person managing it in their own way. It’s also one that has resonated with the audience afterwards.

MATTHIEU: “And the characters in the film, they all have that in common, they just don’t quite understand each other. It’s quite difficult to talk about a rather simple thing, like are the walls in your flat just closing in like they are in mine? The idea that sometimes communication is a real struggle, especially for younger people as well. They are learning to live on their own, and just like learning the rules of life and the rules of the city, which are quite cruel sometimes.”

MATTHIEU: “I mean, you always hope a film and the message you try to convey in a film resonate with an audience. And I think it did, because whenever I showed the film, and even while we were making the film, there’s always people coming to me and talking about the weird flat they once lived in, or the odd neighbor. And I think we all have that experience with people we don’t quite understand. We may be nice, but we’re just always off to a wrong start with them, or just living in places that are too small or too big or too badly made.”

Aside from relatability, picking the right genre for a short film is also key. Some genres are easier for short films. Comedy pretty much dominates the short format, everything from the early vaudeville vignettes to nightclub stand up to television sketch comedy can fit between one and forty minutes. But comedy can be utilized in different ways, sometimes exploiting tragedy through meanness, sometimes vulgarly through tantalizing content, and sometimes by being too safe for the issue being discussed. In ZÉRO M2, we get a taste of Matthieu Landour Engel’s particular brand of humor.

MATTHIEU: “Overall, I think comedy still has a lot of unexplored areas, and with this film, I really tried to explore the offbeat aspect of comedy. The way we sometimes struggle with communicating with others. We just can’t talk about something or we’re pausing. Awkward pauses are something I really tried to explore there."

MATTHIEU: “As to balancing humor, I just think we all relate on a level or another to humor, and it can keep the audience engaged with the message. Humor is a powerful tool for that. I never see humor as something mean or anything. It’s just an aspect that I don’t quite like. I do have a weird sense of humor sometimes, so I do enjoy odd situations and awkward pauses. That’s something that I just really like. I never try to be mean with my characters. Every time I write something, I just love characters.”

The characters touch on so many effects of the housing crisis, but the real genius of ZÉRO M2 is that it shows us what happens if we fast forward our current situation into the future, if we leave urban housing on the same trajectory we’ve been heading for close to thirty years. In the United States, no one working minimum wage can now afford a one-bedroom apartment, and in Los Angeles, we have more vacant housing units than homeless people on the streets. My feelings about landlords aside, the causes for the housing crisis are as varied as the solutions for the housing crisis. ZÉRO M2 closes on a powerful message about dealing with the housing crisis, one that must be seen to be believed and appreciated.

My complaints about ZÉRO M2 almost exclusively relate to the obvious constraints that Mat and Nicolas were working under to produce a short based on an idea that could easily be an ensemble feature film. Aside from well-chosen locations, the hallway set (where a number of key scenes are shot) could do with a larger production budget, perhaps one large enough to show more interiors for the well-developed supporting characters, and how each were managing the crisis. I firmly believe the film can stand on its own, but I also can’t shake the feeling of wanting more. And if there’s any gold standard for a short, it’s just that.

So, what’s next for Matthieu and what else is he up to with his spouse?

MATTHIEU: “The new short I’m working on is about a phone that’s a human being. I’m just following on this. It’s a story of what if robots, to some extent, did the same thing as phones. They look like humans, but there’s a lot of melancholy around there, just about those people who don’t do much but give you the weather or the time. I think it’s quite lonely otherwise.”

MATTHIEU: “I also work with, alongside my wife, Bali Engel. We do have a small animation studio called Bat Collective. Bat like a bat. And we do little films or commercials in animation, which is something we are really passionate about. And my wife, Bali Engel, is a fantastic children’s book author and illustrator, so she makes children’s books in English as well as French. She’s my wife and she’s amazing.”

ZÉRO M2 is a fun, comedic short about the urban housing crisis, which uses humor to effectively communicate its message. While the film could stand for a larger budget, and perhaps expansion into a feature-length ensemble film, the core premise and characters are extremely well-developed. If you’ve ever struggled to find housing, especially in cities, then you’ll immediately relate to this film. And if you are interested in films examining the housing crisis, this film offers a delightfully subversive solution.

Rotten Tomatoes: NR

Metacritic: NR

One Movie Punch: 8.3/10

ZÉRO M2 (2015) is not rated and is currently playing on Vimeo and YouTube. Check the show notes for links!

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LINKS

BAT COLLECTIVE

Web: batcollective.tv

YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCaceq0cBBszu7KjW01KFbRA

Vimeo: vimeo.com/batcollective

ZÉRO M2

YouTube: youtu.be/AS8vskB_aJ8

Vimeo: vimeo.com/209895447

SHOCK THERAPY

YouTube: youtu.be/VorzxQr01j4

Vimeo: vimeo.com/209895447

BOOKS BY BALI ENGEL

“The Hairys: A Story About Belonging” by Bali Engel

petitademas.com/product/the-hairys/

“Nature’s Lullaby Fills The Night” by Dee Leone and Bali Engel sterlingpublishing.com/9781454921394/

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SCENE – BREAKING NEWS

EILEEN: “Breaking news today. Thousands of pigeons have gathered in protest outside of One Movie Punch Tower after a leaked episode of Joseph Dobzynski’s review for ZÉRO M2. We now go to the press conference held earlier today.”

AMY: “We... the leaders of... the Pigeon Protectors of the World... have gathered... to protest... filmmaker Matthieu Landour Engel... and his horrific... treatment... of all... pigeonkind.”

EILEEN: “We’ve also just received the following message from Joseph Dobzynski, Jr. host at One Movie Punch.”

JOSEPH: “One Movie Punch will not allow itself to be bullied by anyone. Our reviews have always been based on a film’s merits. However, in light of the recent allegations by the Pigeon Protectors of the World, we will be releasing our full interview with Matthieu Landour Engel so that we can finally put to bed this controversy.”

EILEEN: “The scene turned hectic shortly after the release of the statement, with an effigy of Matthieu Landour Engel erected in the square outside the tower, followed by a coordinated campaign of aerial assault using the foulest of means. What does this even mean?”

EILEEN: *pause*

EILEEN: “Yes, oh, they’re pooping on it? Why didn’t you just say that? Anyway, be sure to tune in on Sunday, December 8th, 2019 at 7:00am PST for the full interview with Matthieu Landour Engel, which will be publicly available for a limited time at patreon.com/onemoviepunch. We’ll learn more about this pigeon controversy, and hopefully they’ll even talk about the movie.”

EILEEN: “This is One Movie Spawn, Anchor Edition, Signing Off.”