Alien Guy Tim is a short mockumentary which tells the story of an alien enthusiast and his love for all things extra-terrestrial. Check out our review after the jump.
The eponymous Tim has been abducted by aliens several times throughout his life, enjoying each experience thoroughly for various reasons. The only issue is that nobody believes him, and so he has set out to speak to our (mock) documentarians to spread the word of his experiences to the masses. The single idea of someone who has been abducted more than once in their life by aliens is immediately an entertaining one for a film and filled with comedic potential, but the further development that Tim actively enjoys it and what the aliens do to him (alluded to very carefully and amusingly) is an even more clever idea, and really sells the film as something individual and different, as opposed to any old “talking head” mockumentary.
This idea of charm and originality is really enforced by the lead performance of Patrick McElroy as Tim, which throughout is charming, relatable, and very very funny. His voice, mannerisms and overall character perfectly portray what we might, as an audience, come to expect from a repeat abductee, and his performance really helps to sell the film and carry it through. Though the dialogue sounds funny as it is, I can imagine on the page it’s humorous, but becomes a lot more so when embodied by Tim in his peculiar accent.
Another thing that Alien Guy Tim gets right is the editing. The mockumentary is short, and rightfully so. The idea is great, but could easily be seen to falter under too much of an extended length without being changed too much. The pacing and editing of the film as it is are perfect, and the director and editor deserve kudos for putting the audience first and giving them the perfect length of the film as opposed to over saturating it. Having said this, with a few more humorous characters that Tim comes into contact with at, for example, his alien sighting meetings, the idea possibly could be expanded and taken further if done right.
Overall, the film entertained me and made me laugh, and had some nice touching moments too. The cinematography is simple yet very effective and keeps everything contained and, for lack of a better word, “plain” enough for us to still be interested in what we see, but not too distracting from Tim and his stories. Composer Brian Crimmins deserves an extra special shout out, for his beautiful, emotional and moving music, which seems an exact embodiment of what Tim is saying and feeling. The film has an excellent ending too, which I won’t spoil, but lives up to the heart of the film and makes the most of what it has, very very well.
I’d love to see more work by Scott Simerley Jr, and will keep my eye out for any more touching yet emotional shorts. Ironically, my favourite thing about this alien related film is the human aspect, which is a great accomplishment of Science Fiction/Comedy genre filmmaking.
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