There's no question that Yorgos Lanthimos likes things unsettling, and often downright weird. His films tend to make you feel slightly off-kilter, like you're wearing shoes of two different heights or you're stuck at the apex of a structurally unsound Ferris wheel. Dystopian cult favourite The Lobster, about a man who has to find love or be turned into the titular crustacean, cemented this reputation, and 2017 follow-up The Killing of a Sacred Deer kept the same funhouse, herky-jerky, teeth-on-edge aesthetic. Even his most mainstream (and biggest mainstream success) film, 2018 lesbian court drama The Favourite, had the same uncanny valley feeling, thanks to highly stylised dialogue, smash cuts, inventive and intrusive cinematography and Lanthimos's favourite vertigo-inducing tool, fisheye lenses.
His contribution to the 2020 Melbourne International Film festival is 12-minute short Nimic, which induces the now-familiar seasickness associated with his films. It stars Matt Dillon as a cellist whose life is upended when a stranger he meets on the train begins copying his every movement. And yes, we mean every. His children, wife and profession are up for grabs as the doppelgänger (who looks nothing like him) helps herself to his life.
There is scant dialogue in the piece, but a score of discordant strings, overly stylised acting and that ubiquitous fisheye lens infuses every scene with an off-putting menace.
The film is part of MIFF's International Shorts program, which is free to watch. It's certainly worth 12 minutes of your time to give this one a look – but you might want to go for a walk afterwards to regain your balance.