Review: Blackheads

With SXSW 2020 having been canceled, Emily Ann Hoffman’s Blackheads was released to the masses for a 48-hour window which is a trend that I hope follows suit for other producers.

In any event, this stop-motion/2D animated short film follows a woman simply waking up one day and going through a litany of emotions as she deals with a recent heartbreak, lame but probably expensive therapy, and, of course, acne. The narrative, on paper, seems pretty cliche. At the end of the day, Emily’s autobiographical account of a bad day isn’t unlike anything you’d read about on Twitter and has certainly been covered in animation and it’s growing sub genre…depression.

That said, the stop-motion production for Blackheads is more than solid and provides for captivating visuals that will do more than enough to keep you watching for the seven-minute duration. The casting choices are solid, with excellent contributions from  Chet Siegel and Robin Brenner, while casting Doug Goldring is a bit more of a fascinating take on an integral character that I won’t spoil.

Blackheads is very indicative of the type of stuff we see out of Brooklyn, the more artsy/quirky efforts that don’t have the plot development auspices we see from Europe. While safe, Blackheads is an entertaining short that could see some Oscar love by year’s end.