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Currently Playing: OPEN MIC | Omeleto

A man takes the stage. Seth doesn't have a lot going for him. He's a stressed-out father with a partner who is running out of patience with him. (Living with Seth's mom doesn't help.) More than anything, he wants to be a comedian, but he can't quite get his career started -- or land a joke. When he goes to an open mic at a local comedy club, he wants to win the audience over, in hopes of landing some laughs and maybe a slot in the future. But when he finds himself trapped in a time loop in the club, the stakes of succeeding at this craft become even more pronounced. Directed by Robert DiRoberto and written by Skyler Kaplan, this existential dramatic short is an oddly transfixing character portrait of a man at the edge of a cliff, where the drudgery of home life is poised to pull him under and he's grasping at the one thing left for himself. Seth's stand-up is his dream and aspiration, one that is threatened by his domestic situation. But when he finds himself trapped in a time loop, that outlet becomes a source of pressure -- one that proves both anxiety-producing and freeing as he pursues a creative high. Filmed with a gritty darkness and a stillness that feels like inertia at times and almost otherworldly at others, the film takes some time to settle into its premise, at first setting up Seth's domestic life with a brief but uncomfortable scene between him and his partner. They have a young son, and things are stressful and clearly tense between them, with his partner's unmet expectations and Seth's inability to fulfill them. When Seth enters the comedy club, it's an escape, but it's also a source of challenge for his comedic aspirations, which seem out of reach. He takes the mic, but he bombs. In a more normal film, he would leave and go back home, trudging it out until the next time. But instead, Seth finds himself in a time loop, and he can't break free until he wins over the audience. The finely observed dialogue and livelier handheld camerawork capture Seth's efforts in improving his delivery and material, as well as his increasingly frantic attempts to escape. But the point isn't the comedy itself -- it's how Seth slowly comes alive with the challenge, a transformation that actor Skyler Kaplan captures well, changing from disengaged and depressed to engaged and even confrontational. He fails again and again, but he keeps at it. The loop is torturous in some ways, but it's also a vehicle for catharsis and growth, however painful. Eventually, Seth finally reaches within himself, tries something authentic and finally lands a laugh. He finds himself free of the time loop, ending OPEN MIC on a strangely hopeful note. When Seth is faced with the vagaries of outside life, the "trap" actually feels like freedom. We get the sense that it may not be long again until Seth pursues the next creative high, embedding him in the cycle of creative ambition and validation yet never quite finding satisfaction. They say it's about the journey, not the destination. Seth's journey may continue to be challenging, but he's found something that keeps him going. OPEN MIC. Courtesy of Robert DiRoberto at https://linktr.ee/openmicfilm.