Except for the last shot “Comet Happer” Completely at night. However, without seeing the clock occasionally, it can be difficult to discern the exact time. In an unidentified suburban corner, there are many people with quiet, personal and often inexplicable jobs. (Most of the film was shot in Smithtown, Long Island.)
Some people record the sounds of crickets and trains on their mobile phones. Some people do push-ups at a closed auto repair shop. Additional personnel attempted to contact a human via an automated phone system, but all personnel are currently busy. The only dialogue in the film comes from external sources such as the telephone system and television. The characters never speak and have no names. That might say something about the eerie atmosphere of the film — it’s been described as lynch-like, and the opening shots are reminiscent of Blue Velvet — and the sleepiest-looking character’s One person is driving the car (and drifting over the yellow line).
Movement becomes a motif: As Comet Happers progresses, it becomes difficult to keep track of how many of its subjects are wearing rollerblades or skates. They glide through the area almost ritually (or sleepwalking).
Writer-director Tyler Taormina (“Ham on Rye”) shot this highly experimental feature, apparently with a crew of two, during the most restricted time of the pandemic.
Taormina has turned the problem of having to see the same thing every day into an aesthetic. It’s about looking at and listening to ordinary sights until they become eerie and unfamiliar. (The sound design for a make-up session in a cornfield comes much closer than a typical movie.) Sometimes boring and sometimes pointlessly puzzling, “Comet Happers” nonetheless offers a unique take on the world. I have.
Comet Happer
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 2 minutes. at the theater.
