Céline Roustan
With his hobby building dollhouses, Marky never misses a single video from experienced dollhouse-building influencer/content creator Shelley, and even contributes to her Patreon. When work offers him the opportunity to be in LA, he finally gets the chance to meet Shelley IRL after getting to know her so well through social media. After her feature debut The Year Between, writer/director Alex Heller returns to the short film medium with Holiday House, a touching depiction of modern day friendships built through social media, complete with all the delightful awkwardness.
“I became fixated on a much more skilled dollhouse builder”
Heller candidly shared that the premise of the film is heavily based on her own life, as her pandemic project was building a Victorian dollhouse. Just like her protagonist Marky, she confessed that she “became fixated on a much more skilled dollhouse builder who was charting her progress on social media,” adding, “it wasn’t just her amazing dollhouse that drew me in, it was the details of her personal life that she shared as she worked”. She eventually realized that she knew a lot about someone who did not know her at all, which prompted her to reach out and start an online “friendship” with her. But while the dollhouse building hobby is the pretext of the story, the emotional core is, as she puts it, “inspired by my experience as a fan”.
The film delves into the dynamics of a parasocial relationship – a concept that couldn’t be more universal in this day and age after the pandemic likely played an important part in the development of these new forms of intimacy. Fascinated by these connections, this is what Heller captures in her 13-minute short, by exploring what happens to an online “friendship” when those people meet in the real world. The screenplay for Holiday House is especially compelling, as Heller fleshes out her two characters without relying on those easy tropes you would expect to find in a narrative revolving around a fan meeting their hero.
David Brown stars as Marky, as fan obsessed with Shelly’s (AnnaSophia Robb) dollhouse skills.
Centered around a meeting of strangers, and with a dollhouse lying around, Holiday House could easily be the starting point of a horror film. However, Heller injects so much warmth into her short, that it never feels like a threat is looming. While there’s a narrative tension beneath the surface, she counters that with a visual atmosphere and soundscape that feel very homely, comfortable and soothing. And though I’m not a fan of dollhouses myself, through the framing we feel both the director’s and her characters’ passion.
The authenticity of Heller’s writing is largely brought to the screen thanks to the chemistry between lead actors AnnaSophia Robb and David Brown (already featured on the website in See Saw). They nail the nuances of their relationship through their reactions to what the other says impressively, making the film all the more captivating. Heller also credits DP Brody S. Anderson and editor Brown himself, for making it possible to see the perspectives of both characters. This approach effectively revealing the complicated layers underlying the foundations of their friendship.
Ahead of its online premiere as a Vimeo Staff Pick, Holiday House went around the festival circuit with notable stops at the Aspen Shortsfest and the Palm Springs ShortFest. Heller already has two new short films she’s working on, which should be premiering in 2025.