Remi Milligan: Lost Director is a smart and sharply observed mockumentary from filmmaker Samuel Lodato. The film chronicles the life and disappearance of a fictitious cult director with such care and detail that some viewers might briefly believe he really existed.
Remi Milligan: Lost Director opens like a lo-fi documentary about a forgotten filmmaker, but soon reveals itself to be something cleverer. Writer-director Samuel Lodato blends talking heads, faux archival footage, and scenes from fake B-movies to create a rich, convincing portrait of a man who never actually lived. The result is a mockumentary that is frequently hilarious, often touching, and always committed to its premise.
Yoshi Barrigas plays Michele Benedetto, an eccentric filmmaker who adopts the name Remi Milligan and makes a series of ultra-low-budget, wildly original films before vanishing in 2006. Lodato structures the film around interviews with Milligan’s friends, family, former collaborators, and die-hard fans. Their testimonials feel remarkably authentic, adding to the illusion that Milligan was a real figure whose strange work slipped through the cracks of cinematic history.
Remi Milligan: Lost Director delivers a funny and convincing tribute to outsider cinema
The mockumentary format has been done many times before, but Lodato executes it with skill and sincerity. The film captures the obsessive detail of underground film culture, from Milligan’s overly ambitious concepts to the passionate grassroots fans who keep his memory alive. It also explores the bittersweet reality of outsider artistry: the creative highs, the financial lows, and the emotional toll of chasing a dream that the wider world may never understand.
Milligan’s fictional filmography is a highlight. We are shown clips from several of his supposed works, each lovingly recreated in a different style. Killer Pencil is a horror short about a demonic writing tool. Greek Connection tackles urban crime with a gritty 80s feel. Song and Dance at Guantanamo Bay is a surreal musical that repurposes showtunes in a highly inappropriate setting. And then there’s Satsuman, a part live-action, part stop-motion fable about a tangerine-human hybrid on a journey of self-discovery. These glimpses into Remi’s work are imaginative, funny, and surprisingly well crafted, showing off Lodato’s technical range as well as his eye for satire.
Yoshi Barrigas is excellent as Milligan, appearing in both the “film clips” and scattered moments of documentary footage. He plays the character with sincerity and a dash of arrogance, making Milligan feel like a familiar presence in the world of fringe cinema. Francesca Kos and Rene Costa give grounded performances as Milligan’s supportive but baffled parents, while Sophie Aisling, Sebastian Romaniuk, and Sara Granato round out the ensemble with honest, often touching insights into Milligan’s personal life and working habits.
Lodato also deserves credit for how carefully the film avoids winking at the audience. There are no knowing looks or easy punchlines. Instead, the humour emerges from the absurdity of the situation and the absolute conviction of those telling the story. Even as the narrative grows stranger—culminating in Satsuman‘s fruit costume climax—everything is presented with total seriousness, which only makes it funnier.
That commitment also helps elevate the film beyond simple parody. While much of the comedy is rooted in the world of microbudget filmmaking, there are also real emotions at play. The film touches on creative burnout, the challenges of staying true to one’s vision, and the loneliness that can accompany relentless ambition. In a way, Remi Milligan: Lost Director becomes a gentle tribute to all those independent artists who never quite made it, but whose passion was never in doubt.
If there’s a flaw, it’s that one or two segments overstay their welcome, particularly a lengthy stretch devoted to Killer Pencil. But the pace is generally tight, and at just over 70 minutes, the film never drags. Daniel Gal’s cinematography captures both the mock-doc aesthetic and the various visual styles of Milligan’s films, while Madil Hardis’s score adds the right amount of quirky sincerity to tie everything together.
In the end, Remi Milligan: Lost Director pulls off something quietly impressive. It satirises the world of fringe filmmaking while also honouring it. The characters may be fake, but the emotions and experiences they describe ring true. It is a film made with wit, care, and an obvious love for cinema in all its forms. By the time the credits roll, you may find yourself wishing that Remi Milligan really had existed. Bayview Entertainment has picked up the rights, look out for it.
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