The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer offers dry, dark humor with a confident grasp of tone.
Director: Tolga Karaçelik
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Run Time: 102′
Tribeca Premiere: June 8, 2024
Comedies don’t get much drier, and film titles don’t get much longer, than The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer. Despite this elongated upfront, writer and director Tolga Karaçelik’s film is deceptively simple in execution.
It’s a movie that takes the tried-and-true formula perfected in so many 80s and 90s sitcoms made around simple misunderstandings, but it’s elevated by Karaçelik’s dry situational humor and dialogue. Too many films have been made about couples who try to work out their differences after being thrown into a foreign situation, and while The Shallow Tale of a Writer doesn’t necessarily upend this formula, it’s never not fun.
Keane (John Magaro, Past Lives) is a mild-mannered author, riding high on the mild-mannered success of his first novel, but his wife Suzie (Britt Lower, Severance) resents him and their marriage. Not because she’s jealous of his success, but because of his passivity. Suzie needs someone assertive, and it’s hilariously plastered all over Lower’s death stare whenever he starts blabbering about the mundanities of ancient cave people as the idea for his next novel. For too long, Keane has simply gone along with whatever Suzie suggests, even with the bigger life decisions like having kids or moving to a certain neighborhood. She tells Keane she wants a divorce, which sends him into a spiral, until he’s approached by Kollmick (Steve Buscemi, Fargo).
Kollmick – don’t call him Mr. Kollmick – readily confesses to Keane that he’s a retired serial killer and thinks that Keane should instead write a book about serial killers. Strangely, Karaçelik never really explains why Kollmick is so invested in Keane or his creative block. Rather, Keane ropes him into becoming their marriage counselor, in a desperate attempt to salvage their marriage. This leads to one of the best scenes in the film, when Keane and Suzie reveal what initially attracted them to one another. It’s a smartly written scene that reveals a great deal about their past, and that this is a relationship worth saving.
The remainder of the film devolves into a strange series of set pieces, where Suzie tracks Keane and Kollmick throughout the city, trying to understand exactly what they’re up to in the middle of the night. Some moments are simply too broad to believe – don’t ask me why The Shallow Tale of a Writer includes a scene with a llama in a bar – and the film ends a little abruptly, but Karaçelik has such a firm grasp on the characters that the ride is just as enjoyable.
Too many films are hampered by miscommunications, where all the problems would be solved if the characters would simply open their mouths and talk to one another. The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer is one of those films, but it’s not a death knell in the way it is for many lesser films. Magaro, Lower, and Buscemi fit perfectly into Karaçelik’s wacky but dry tone (they’re also all credited as producers, indicating they have a great deal of respect for the material), making for one of the best films of the Tribeca Film Festival.
The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June , 2024. Read our list of 15 films to watch at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival!
