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Short film
Poster for Protozoa

Protozoa

1993 · 25 min

A grimy, drifting slice of slacker aimlessness that feels like staring into a junkyard alongside its characters, unsettling and slow.

Directed by
Darren Aronofsky
Genres
Drama
Overview
Darren Aronofsky’s AFI short opens with angry slacker Dave sitting in a dreary, empty junkyard. Dave stares into space, sips beer, and beats the hell out of a cracked guitar. We quickly realize the emptiness of the dump parallels the emptiness of Dave’s life which consists of smoking weed, staring at television screens and watching school children. Dave’s friend Pete is shortly introduced, along with their friend, Ari, who despite calling her pals losers, doesn’t seem to accomplishing much herself. These three are going nowhere fast. They’re the amoebas of life… protozoa….

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Darren Aronofsky
Genres
Drama
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • isolation
  • addiction
  • loneliness
  • identity
  • class
Places
  • big city
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language strong
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror2
Humour2
Realism7
Romance1
Tension3
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight6

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Cast

Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Darren Aronofsky
Written by
Darren Aronofsky
Starring
Michael Bonitatis, Damon Whitaker, Lucy Liu, Ariel Zablozki, Lang Yun
Cinematography
Matthew Libatique
Runtime
25 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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