Can't Swallow It, Can't Spit It Out

Two teenagers traverse a post-apocalyptic California in this tale of an inherited wasteland, unprepared resilience and compassion, which points to the beginnings of a new future.

At first glance, Masters of None could be the home video of a family of neon-pink hooded figures, passing the time with charades, television, and Jiffy Pop on the stove. As in All Together Now, Masters has no dialogue or clear narrative arc, and while the domestic activities seem everyday, they are infused with suggestions of violence and danger.

Every year, a family home is turned into a haunted house. The purpose is not only to be as terrifying as possible, but also to create a spectacular attraction to draw the neighbors in. The situation grows increasingly complicated, broken and distressed as the family’s problems intercede in their plans and as their real lives become the film’s true and overriding scary haunt.

Shy is a transgender man who leaves his small town after the death of his father, and heads to the big city to live a life of crime. Along the way, he encounters Valentine, a quirky adoptee, in search of his birth mother. An immediate kinship is sparked between these men and they become partners in crime.

Under a cloudless Los Angeles sky, Kahn—dressed in incongruous heels and a summery dress—runs an electric weed whacker through a hill of overgrown grass.

Water drops from the sky, but the mood changes quickly in this brightly coloured animation, created from paintings. A cycle of death and regeneration ensues, to convey the artist’s solidarity with this planet and its people. An escape to freedom prompts some optimism during these strange times.

Landscapes that burn and flood, shift and collapse in an unstable world. Human figures stare at cellphones while floating down the river and falling from the sky. An abstract exploration of the known that becomes unknown, in which animated paintings manifest the uncertainty that surrounds us.