Happer’s Comet

It’s 3:55 when we first see what time it is, on the iPhone that’s detected motion outside. It’s the middle of the night, but things have hardly been quiet, all the sounds become magnified in the dark anyway and not just because they’re being recorded: the horn of the passing train, the gurgle of the swimming pool filter, the autumn leaves scratching across the tarmac. Considering how late it is, a surprising number of people are still up, the couple in the car, the old lady in the armchair on the phone, the boy who applies make-up before slipping out of the house on roller skates; the song to which the police officer does press-ups is right, a lot of people don’t rest enough. The camera caresses these suburban spaces, and they feel so familiar, like the American films we watched as teenagers, at once banal and strangely ominous, knick-knicks in cabinets, quivering chandeliers, a cluttered cellar, the sword on the rack. But this isn’t a horror film, it’s more like a shared dream, whereby the dreamers dream not of cinema but of its individual pieces, and everyone is drawn to the same place. And that’s what we see in the very first image: the head of corn in the mud. (James Lattimer)

Tyler Taormina, born in 1990 in New York, USA. He studied screenwriting and works as a writer, director and producer. Following his debut Ham on Rye (2019), Happer’s Comet is his second feature film.

Production Calogero Carucci, Matt Grady. Production companies Omnes Films (Los Angeles, USA), Factory 25 (New York, USA). Written and directed by Tyler Taormina. Cinematography Jesse Sperling. Editing Tyler Taormina. Sound design Tyler Taormina. Executive producer Tyler Taormina. With Grace Berlino, Jax Terry, Ryan McGlade, Michael Gugliamo, Brandon Cassanova, Brianna Taormina.

Films: 2016: Wild Flies (30 min.). 2019: Ham on Rye (85 min.). 2022: Happer’s Comet.