Guest
How to describe Kurt Kuenne's short film, Validation? It's a tiny little masterpiece of score and scope and vision, and it's remarkably simple, turning on the premise: what if one guy “validated“ your parking and also “validated“ your existence? (It's such an Amelie-like crowd-pleaser of a fable that it's hard to reconcile that it's done by the same director who did last year's devastating, excellent, must-see documentary, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father.) Once the initial sweep of drums cues up and the likable, gentle Hugh Newman (Bones' T.J. Thyne) starts “validating“ a “customer“ you're hooked: “You've got powerful features, man, anyone ever tell you that? Listen, you look a little people are going to see you for who you really are. You. Are. Great.“ The story, of course, happens when Newman meets a woman who he can't make smile. You're so smart, gentle reader. You have great taste in websites. Staggering taste in film. I bet we could split some popcorn and watch this and it would be delicious. (This paragraph will make more sense once you see the flick, of course.)
