Céline Roustan
Jay and his ex are about to revisit the past… athletically. He seems pretty excited for the fun that this one-night stand promises, but is it really no strings attached for him? When he struggles to perform, a brutally honest conversation with Dick (his penis!) makes him realize that his head might not be in the game after all. With Talking Heads, writer/directors Dario Attanasio and Dominik Danielewicz (aka Dario & Dom) subvert the dick joke genre with a raw and original take, their unique approach delivers emotion, humor and a surprisingly compelling penis puppet.
“What do men fail at a lot, but don’t talk about. Sex, obviously.”
With the directors confessing that that they were going through a “creative dry spell” when the idea for Talking Heads struck them, they were trading personal stories when the conversation prompted them to reflect on what “men fail at a lot, but don’t talk about”. The answer: “sex, obviously!”. As that discussion led the pair to think about the representation of sex on screen, they came to the conclusion they’d been “fed images of male sexual prowess”, which were “all about skill and endurance that serve our ego”. Explaining that they were “fascinated by the awkward side of sex, particularly when men’s emotions are involved”, the duo set out to be “brutally honest, personal and unique”, with their short. But no-one was expecting such honesty from a talking penis!
The ideas of men being unable to perform, sexually, or talking to themselves, are hardly unique premises, especially within the world of comedy. Where Talking Heads sets itself apart is how it depicts the messiness between attraction, arousal and emotions. As its central character, Jay, is not a stereotypical man, here to be the embodiment of toxic masculinity, he is a genuine twenty-something trying to earnestly navigate life and relationships. The film surprises with its sensitivity without foregoing its comedy, an element of the filmmaking the directors were keen to highlight. Describing it as a “tragi-comic balancing act”, they admitted they “loved exploring” this side of sex as it was “complex, messy and not always easy to untangle”.
Jay, played by Jordan Stephens, in conversation with Dick, as a night of sex with an ex looms on the horizon.
Ultimately, the core of the film is that conversation in the bathroom, between Jay and Dick. Expertly shot by Ian Forbes (Edmond, The Sermon) and edited by Ed Cheeseman (Night of the Foxes), the audience feels like it is in the room with them, sharing the experience and feeling the pressure of having to figure things out before spending “too much time” in there. However, it’s the performance, from Jordan Stephens, that makes the film truly effective, nailing the tone the directors crafted in the screenplay. The exchange between Jay, mostly in the nude, and Dick (also voiced by Stephens) is perfectly delivered with all its emotional nuances and its comedic angle. As both the characters, Stephens is impressively compelling and endearing, with a mix of animatronics and puppetry actually delivering a penis brimming with emotion, when it could have easily landed on the more grotesque side.
We are excited to host the World Premiere of Talking Heads, the debut short film from the directing duo, on Short of the Week. While also happy to welcome back the work of London based production company Compulsory (Lockdown, Babs) to our pages. Up next for Attanasio and Danielewicz, the pair have already written two feature scripts – an action comedy and a dark comedy – and have treatments for other feature length films and a pitch for a TV series ready to go.