"Creative Writing 2.1"

1 August 2022

4 mins 54s

Creative Crises

An unusual creative writing group takes centre stage in this entertaining short film from Peter Lydon. Rather than working on mediocre novels or terrible poetry, it becomes apparent throughout the piece that this group of misfits are workshopping their text messages.

It's a wonderfully quirky premise, with one man's opening gambit being thoroughly criticised by a particularly aggressive classmate. A woman is also soundly chastised for trying to send a voice note as they're declared "the Devil's tool."

The standout performance comes from a woman - played by writer Lorelei Mathias - who's clearly been ghosted by her romantic prospect, yet refuses to be deterred. Despite the class following a rule that "nothing kills a boner quicker than click to read more", she's determined to make contact as awkward as possible by rambling about tech updates and gut bacteria.

This has a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and both captures the overly serious atmosphere of a creative writing class and the excruciating awkwardness of being contained in a room with the socially inept. Kudos to Lydon and co for a properly funny piece of work.

UK

Short Film