Written and directed by James Cleave, three actors audition for the same career-defining lead role in a major British romcom, all from the discomfort of their own homes. Starring: Boo Jackson, Pippa Moss, Cheska Hill-Wood, Fabrizio Tullio and Amy Whitworth.
A sure fire sign of a good comedy is being able to keep things light and breezy while actually having something to say underneath the humour. That’s exactly what James Cleave achieves with SELF+TAPE. At the face of it, it’s casual and chatty, classically British in its self-deprecation, politeness and a touch of awkwardness but behind that is a worthwhile conversation about the realities of self-tapes.
Touching upon how it can be very isolating and inherently ups the workload for an actor, while removing helpful feedback and potentially being a great deal of effort for naught. It was a great choice from Cleave to give a nod to that question of, after possibly hours of effort on the part of the actor, are they even really being watched? And if so, is it only the initial couple of minutes?
Moving back to the surface, it’s also just genuinely entertaining. The trio of women all give great performances and demonstrate a range of personalities, while their characters all unfortunately try and pigeonhole themselves into an outdated box. They each do well to capture different perspectives but particularly the one of being tired of unrealistic female characters, and most enjoyably, how absolutely ridiculous and nonsensical romantic dialogue can be.
While they each bring plenty to the table, Pippa Moss does stand out, there’s a bit more bite to her character, she’s incredibly relatable. Her exasperation is a good part of why SELF+TAPE’s sense of humour is so accessible, but she also nicely hits those relevant points about the industry, and areas in need of progress.
Visually, that taping set up does inherently restrict the directorial choices Cleave can make but he makes it work in his favour. Employing the split-screen, along with the strong cinematography from James Knight and some great editing work from Christopher Dean, they build a very playful energy, as well as a good pace. The atmosphere is light-hearted, the tone has a classic comedy edge, and it’s extremely British, it couldn’t be much more British unless someone had stopped for a tea break.
SELF+TAPE is funny and playful while highlighting an actual struggle of the industry for actors. It’s relatable and sympathetic, in no small part thanks to the lovely performances from this trio of actresses, and a couple of great voice cameos from Fabrizio Tullio and Amy Whitworth provide a couple of cherries on top of scenes. There’s a high quality to the aesthetic, there’s a charming energy to the atmosphere, it’s forever moving which was a great choice from James Cleave to keep things from getting too static while using those repeated still shots. Having that contrast between such a frustrating issue and its very light-hearted air is a really enjoyable combination.
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