Wyrm

Christopher Winterbauer's 2019 American film is set in an alternative time resembling the nineties. Students at school wear electronic collars that open only at their first kiss; Wyrm, obsessed with dinosaurs, is among the last who have not met the requirement. The idea is the institutionalisation of adolescent milestones and how absurd that is. The invented detail is careful: the period design, the educational leaflets, the videotape aesthetic. Beneath it lies a story of loss; the death of Wyrm's twin opens slowly across the film. The humour is dry and the pace deliberately low. Who it's for: viewers who like dry humour and American independent comedy. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a fast narrative, or avoiding themes of death and grief.