A thematic relation to Gregory's Girl, Swingers and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Robert Byington's endearing twentysomething crisis movie uses a bargain basement mumblecore aesthetic, but sidesteps the self-indulgence to which that mini-genre is prone thanks to a sustained sharp wit. Sad-faced Justin Rice plays Harmony, a prototype nightmare dumpee – the sort of heartbroken friend you take out for consolatory drinks two or three times before finding any excuse to avoid hearing, yet again, the play-by-play rehash of what went wrong. Following his split with perky dreamgirl Jessica (Kristen Tucker), Harmony's friends and family are as unsympathetic as only true intimates can be. His brothers mock his anguish, and his buddies counsel stoicism on the basis that Jessica was "dull" and "only an eight" – not the elusive 'ten'. Harmony and Me is primarily played for dark laughs, but inside Rice's guarded, edgy performance there's a sincere portrayal of someone absolutely trapped in self-pity. His social and emotional misjudgements are harrowingly, hilariously close to the bone. Witness his instantly regrettable one-night-stand with neighbour Natasha (Alison Latta), a bolshy blonde embodiment of every soulsucking oversharer you've ever met; or jumping as if electrocuted when his male pal tries to embrace him. Low-budget comedies are often satisfied with basking in their limited resources, ripping off influences and deploying the odd off-colour gag; but Harmony and Me is a far more original and intelligent affair, distinguishing itself by fine comic timing and agile deployment of language. A tiny-budget version of those love-the-loser comedies crafted around comics of the moment Seth Rogen, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, this film is bold enough not to flinch from the ugliness of emotional turmoil; humane enough to forgive it; and ballsy enough to laugh right in its face.

Screening with:

Horsefingers 3: Starf*cker

• Kirsten Kearse /
• USA /
• 2008 /
• 13 mins

A bizarre, hilarious and oddly affecting portrait of relationship anxiety and the shapes into which we twist ourselves to please others, Kirsten Kearse's film sees a young woman costumed in hooves enter into a not-entirely-healthy liaison with an egotistical actor.

Director: Kirsten Kearse
Producer: Massoumeh Emami
Scriptwriter: Kirsten Kearse
Editor: Kenny Wachtel
DoP: David Park
Production Designer: Carl Ferrara