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A Short Film about Disappointment
An ingenious novel about art and revenge, insisting on your dreams and hitting on your doctor, told in the form of 80 movie reviews
In near-future America, film critic Noah Body uploads his reviews to an underread content aggregator. His job is dreary routine: watch, seethe, pan. He dreams of making his own film, free of the hackery of commercial cinema. Faced with writing on lousy movies for a website that no one reads, Noah smuggles into his reviews depictions of his troubled life on the margins.
Amid his movie reviews, we learn that his apartment in the vintage slum of Miniature Aleppo has been stripped of furniture after his wife ran off with his best friend--who Noah believes has possessed his body. He's in the middle of an escalating grudge match against a vending machine tycoon with a penchant for violence. And he's infatuated with a doctor who has diagnosed him with a "disease of thought." Exhausted by days spent watching flicks featuring monks with a passion for rock and roll and slashers featuring rampaging hairdressers, Noah is determined to create his own masterpiece: a filmed meditation on art-with-a-capital-A, written by, directed by, and starring himself.
Set in a wildly imaginative and uncannily familiar world of nanny states and extreme rationing, Safe Zones and New Koreas, A Short Film About Disappointment is an uproarious story of trying to keep it together in turbulent times. Joshua Mattson is a debut novelist with a rotten wit and the creative vision of a hyperactive child.
In near-future America, film critic Noah Body uploads his reviews to an underread content aggregator. His job is dreary routine: watch, seethe, pan. He dreams of making his own film, free of the hackery of commercial cinema. Faced with writing on lousy movies for a website that no one reads, Noah smuggles into his reviews depictions of his troubled life on the margins.
Amid his movie reviews, we learn that his apartment in the vintage slum of Miniature Aleppo has been stripped of furniture after his wife ran off with his best friend--who Noah believes has possessed his body. He's in the middle of an escalating grudge match against a vending machine tycoon with a penchant for violence. And he's infatuated with a doctor who has diagnosed him with a "disease of thought." Exhausted by days spent watching flicks featuring monks with a passion for rock and roll and slashers featuring rampaging hairdressers, Noah is determined to create his own masterpiece: a filmed meditation on art-with-a-capital-A, written by, directed by, and starring himself.
Set in a wildly imaginative and uncannily familiar world of nanny states and extreme rationing, Safe Zones and New Koreas, A Short Film About Disappointment is an uproarious story of trying to keep it together in turbulent times. Joshua Mattson is a debut novelist with a rotten wit and the creative vision of a hyperactive child.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2018
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722 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
October 10, 2018
The title caught my eye and the premise made me want to read it. The description, a novel structured as 80 movie reviews, sounded strange enough to warrant a read, even if it was rather gimmicky. The major problem I had with the book wasn't that attempt at the gimmick, it's that it doesn't really follow through. The novel isn't so much structured as 80 movie reviews as it is a regular novel with 80 really short chapters that happen to have (fake) movie titles as chapter names.
The main character is pretentious and awkward and cynical, all of which could have been fun, but really, the writing isn't funny enough to sustain an empathetic relationship with the character. I just didn't care.
This could have been great and it was trying something a little different, but overall, it just doesn't work.
The main character is pretentious and awkward and cynical, all of which could have been fun, but really, the writing isn't funny enough to sustain an empathetic relationship with the character. I just didn't care.
This could have been great and it was trying something a little different, but overall, it just doesn't work.
August 2, 2018
Brutal. And Very Funny.
"...[she] said, I've never acted. I said, anyone who has ever lived has acted."
The ostensible frame for this book is that the hero writes deeply felt, but generally ignored or unread, film reviews. Out of boredom or disillusion, he begins to include extended accounts of his own life within the bodies of the reviews. We've seen this before - a life that peeks out of a series of Amazon customer reviews, or a course of job application cover letters, or even just a series of customer complaint letters. The problem is that sometimes tending to the premise can so straightjacket the author that nothing else interesting can ever really happen.
Well, the good news is that much, much more than that happens in this book. The film reviews aren't the heart of the book, but more just an opportunity for our hero to engage in 80 amusing flights of chagrin and disappointment during the breaks in his life. Noah Body, (really?), is a genius and an idiot, an optimist and a sad sack, a winner and a loser. As a character he changes from page to page and sometimes line to line. Is it possible to be banal and mercurial at the same time? Can you have inspired shallowness, or dynamic detachment, or heroic cowardice? Darned if I know, but those are the sorts of things you think about while reading this book.
There are longish stretches in which the book feels like an anthology of mismatched aphorisms. There is a good deal of witty dialogue, and a number of striking set pieces, but the great heart of the book is the odd throwaway lines that are peppered throughout in no particular order. The whole project has the feel of dry, deadpan melancholy, shot through with mordant and brittle wit. And yet, for all of that, the book has an undercurrent of generous affection and regard for the characters. Noah is in many ways a triumphant character, and he does somehow manage to "keep it together", and maybe even prevail.
Sometimes you just admire a book, and sometimes you are content to enjoy it, but it is a happy find indeed when, as here, you can say both of those things about a book.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
"...[she] said, I've never acted. I said, anyone who has ever lived has acted."
The ostensible frame for this book is that the hero writes deeply felt, but generally ignored or unread, film reviews. Out of boredom or disillusion, he begins to include extended accounts of his own life within the bodies of the reviews. We've seen this before - a life that peeks out of a series of Amazon customer reviews, or a course of job application cover letters, or even just a series of customer complaint letters. The problem is that sometimes tending to the premise can so straightjacket the author that nothing else interesting can ever really happen.
Well, the good news is that much, much more than that happens in this book. The film reviews aren't the heart of the book, but more just an opportunity for our hero to engage in 80 amusing flights of chagrin and disappointment during the breaks in his life. Noah Body, (really?), is a genius and an idiot, an optimist and a sad sack, a winner and a loser. As a character he changes from page to page and sometimes line to line. Is it possible to be banal and mercurial at the same time? Can you have inspired shallowness, or dynamic detachment, or heroic cowardice? Darned if I know, but those are the sorts of things you think about while reading this book.
There are longish stretches in which the book feels like an anthology of mismatched aphorisms. There is a good deal of witty dialogue, and a number of striking set pieces, but the great heart of the book is the odd throwaway lines that are peppered throughout in no particular order. The whole project has the feel of dry, deadpan melancholy, shot through with mordant and brittle wit. And yet, for all of that, the book has an undercurrent of generous affection and regard for the characters. Noah is in many ways a triumphant character, and he does somehow manage to "keep it together", and maybe even prevail.
Sometimes you just admire a book, and sometimes you are content to enjoy it, but it is a happy find indeed when, as here, you can say both of those things about a book.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
June 26, 2018
Great book
October 15, 2018
An outstanding debut novel by a very witty author. Well-crafted and tremendously funny. The author’s style is first-rate. .@goodreads
did-not-finish
August 8, 2018(Review copy received via Edelweiss. Sampled. Included in my newsletter 13/07/18)
In near-future America, a film critic churns out online content while dreaming of his own movie-making career. To alleviate the tedium, he starts inserting bits of his own story into his work. An ‘ingenious novel about art and revenge’ told entirely through imaginary film reviews.
Will I finish reading it? With a setup like this, I want the ‘reviews’ to work in isolation, and they don’t at all; that’s disappointing. I’ve read a few chapters and am leaning towards ‘no’, but I’m willing to give it a bit more of a chance, especially since I haven’t yet formed much of an idea about what’s actually going on. (Later note: after giving it more of a chance, the conclusion was still ‘no’).
In near-future America, a film critic churns out online content while dreaming of his own movie-making career. To alleviate the tedium, he starts inserting bits of his own story into his work. An ‘ingenious novel about art and revenge’ told entirely through imaginary film reviews.
Will I finish reading it? With a setup like this, I want the ‘reviews’ to work in isolation, and they don’t at all; that’s disappointing. I’ve read a few chapters and am leaning towards ‘no’, but I’m willing to give it a bit more of a chance, especially since I haven’t yet formed much of an idea about what’s actually going on. (Later note: after giving it more of a chance, the conclusion was still ‘no’).
June 24, 2018
DNF. I read to page 77 then skimmed to page 117 before finally throwing in the towel on this one. It's either really bad or just going over my head. There doesn't seem to be much of a story and I really don't care to continue.
I received this book for free through a Goodreads Firstreads giveaway but this has not influenced my review in any way.
I received this book for free through a Goodreads Firstreads giveaway but this has not influenced my review in any way.
August 28, 2018
This is fun, and the idea is good. But it's not engrossing.
The novel's structured as a series of movie reviews, each one usually lasting three-to-five pages. But while the protagonist is ostensibly hired to write reviews, he ends up talking less about the movies and more about himself and his personal turmoils. So you pick up pieces of him as it goes along, and of course a plot begins to form.
It's humorous, and makes for a fairly entertaining read, but I think the nature of telling a story through short snippets leaves the reader less than entranced. There's too much herky-jerky and not enough time to settle in and get comfy. But then again, perhaps such is the spirit of the modern life he wishes to reflect. And at that he may have succeeded. But to each his own.
Recommended for busy modernists and postmodernists.
The novel's structured as a series of movie reviews, each one usually lasting three-to-five pages. But while the protagonist is ostensibly hired to write reviews, he ends up talking less about the movies and more about himself and his personal turmoils. So you pick up pieces of him as it goes along, and of course a plot begins to form.
It's humorous, and makes for a fairly entertaining read, but I think the nature of telling a story through short snippets leaves the reader less than entranced. There's too much herky-jerky and not enough time to settle in and get comfy. But then again, perhaps such is the spirit of the modern life he wishes to reflect. And at that he may have succeeded. But to each his own.
Recommended for busy modernists and postmodernists.
October 14, 2018
Had high hopes for this novel but it’s not very good. Pisses away a great idea - a story told through film reviews - by never truly committing to the concept. That is to say that each chapter is a film review (all of them fictional) but rarely is the film in question discussed. Rather our pretentious protagonist uses each review to detail his miserable existence in a thinly drawn future, where the rich are even richer, the poor are even poorer and resources - including bandwidth - are scarcer.
Our reviewers observations about art, about how it’s co-opted by the rich looking to achieve something worthy aside from rape and pillaging the poor is a message lost by the snide, to cool for school tone. About the only true and profound statement in the entire novel is when our “hero” opines that no-one ever reads reviews.
Avoid.
Our reviewers observations about art, about how it’s co-opted by the rich looking to achieve something worthy aside from rape and pillaging the poor is a message lost by the snide, to cool for school tone. About the only true and profound statement in the entire novel is when our “hero” opines that no-one ever reads reviews.
Avoid.
May 7, 2019
Pretentious and annoying. Admittedly I’m not in the mood to feel generous right now and my surgeon put me on pain medication that makes me feel like the unpleasant sort of being high but while I loved the premise of this book, it turns out I’m just not in the right headspace to read about a mediocre man who feels that he deserves attention for his theoretical creative output just because he wants it while simultaneously not doing his actual paid creative work and whining that his wife left him for the man that actually wanted to have sex with her. Stop being such an insufferable sadsack, Noah, and write about those movies you’re getting paid to watch instead of telling us way too much about this movie you’re never going to make because it sucks.
February 11, 2019
A SHORT FILM ABOUT DISAPPOINTMENT is a first novel by Joshua Mattson that is made up of movie reviews for an online aggregator. These films of a dystopian near future, which is less Mad Max than Mild Max, screen in a tomorrow that feels like today with immigration issues, constant surveillance and life lived through the apps. The critic uses his platform, which no one reads, to vent about his failed love and creative life. He’s a funny guy, and it’s a funny book, clever and well-done. It reminded me of GoodReads, at least as I use it, a place to seemingly write about books but ended up more a laundry list of my current interests and problems. Who knew that could be literature?
September 14, 2018
Maybe I wasn't in the mood for a book told through 80 film reviews.
February 16, 2019
I was disappointed-I suppose as advertised.
September 15, 2019
Didn't make it very far with this one. Scattered narrative, irreverent about who knows what, aiming for poker-faced madcap, but I didn't feel a heartbeat anywhere.
November 13, 2019
To read a fantasy with one's critical faculties is not so important as the ability to inhabit its zones of possibility. p175
A memory is a fantasy that that grows in repetition. p217
Mediocrity is the default state of existence. p140
Despite its rather unlikable characters and fairly predictable trajectory, this book soars above mediocrity and outlines zones of possibility that may titillate a latent sense of humour. Intense, quirky and clever, it does not disappoint.
I began to think that there was something for me to accomplish, and after I accomplished it I could die without much fear, but I could not identify what it was. p107
A belief, as I understand it, is flexible. It never needs to be fought for for it is self-evident. The only worthwhile beliefs were small and not to be mentioned to others. p56
JM tells it all and if you don't believe him, or me, just check with Dr. Lisa
to-read-so-bad-it-hurts
February 1, 2018UM THIS SOUNDS AMAZING
Also, 'told in the form of 80 movie reviews' HERE FOR IT
Also, 'told in the form of 80 movie reviews' HERE FOR IT
November 1, 2021
I honestly don't remember where I stumbled across this book before putting it on my to-read list. It's contemporary enough that I don't think it was referenced by anything else I've read recently, and none of the usual Goodreads reviewers I follow mentioned it. Either way, the summary tickled me, and the book managed to deliver on its promise.
A lot of other reviews seemed to take issue with whether it was really told through movie reviews, and in a sense they have a point; most of the "reviews" offer only a title, directory, and a token mention in their respective chapter. On the other hand, I have no trouble buying the idea that someone writing an obscure column, mostly concerned with avant-garde films with a limited audience, might not get away with autobiographical rambling for a few months.
The framing makes for an explicitly unreliable narrator. The story we are told could just as easily be a wholesale fabrication, constructed for the amusement of the narrator, as it could be the disjointed register of a mind in the grips of madness and despair. As such, it is rather beside the point whether the future painted in the book is strictly plausible, either in detail or in the broad strokes.
There whole book is permeated by an acerbic wit that is exactly to my taste, so I'm not sure I can be wholly objective regarding the quality of the writing. I was simply enjoying myself too much to be an effective critic.
A lot of other reviews seemed to take issue with whether it was really told through movie reviews, and in a sense they have a point; most of the "reviews" offer only a title, directory, and a token mention in their respective chapter. On the other hand, I have no trouble buying the idea that someone writing an obscure column, mostly concerned with avant-garde films with a limited audience, might not get away with autobiographical rambling for a few months.
The framing makes for an explicitly unreliable narrator. The story we are told could just as easily be a wholesale fabrication, constructed for the amusement of the narrator, as it could be the disjointed register of a mind in the grips of madness and despair. As such, it is rather beside the point whether the future painted in the book is strictly plausible, either in detail or in the broad strokes.
There whole book is permeated by an acerbic wit that is exactly to my taste, so I'm not sure I can be wholly objective regarding the quality of the writing. I was simply enjoying myself too much to be an effective critic.
January 15, 2019
What a great concept! Mattson has a quotable line every three lines! And yet . . . and yet. As I said in an earlier update, "This is an interesting but lifeless little book. It is interesting and lifeless the way that David Foster Wallace's works can be read as interesting and lifeless." I stand by that. This is a book I didn't love, maybe didn't even like? Hmm.
January 2, 2022
I have mixed feeling about this one... It was intriguing enough to make me want to keep reading and hope that the book ultimately made sense, but slow and confusing enough to make me feel like I was wasting my time and shouldn't finish it.
I ended up going with the latter action. It couldn't keep my attention quite well enough.
Note: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
I ended up going with the latter action. It couldn't keep my attention quite well enough.
Note: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
January 10, 2019
A story told through film reviews that never really tells the story.
April 6, 2025
Joshua Mattson's A Short Film About Disappointment is s creative novel told in the form of a series of film reviews with the story of a frustrated filmmaker buried within the reviews. One creative example I loved is a take on "When one door closes, another opens."- "The universe buttons a blouse and unzips a zipper." Another memorable line, "Lateness is how the insecure demonstrate power." The book takes place in the near future, but since it was written in 2018, we might be there now. Some of life is bleak, but there is also a same-old, same-old quality to it. People have their routines and have to contend with boredom. The book is hard to follow because the reviewer/protagonist has an alter ego, shifting friendships, and an affair with his therapist. He also admits that some of the films he reviewed were fictitious. If you studied 1960s literature in college, you will feel comfortable reading Mattson. If you are tired of romance and mystery/thriller escapism, you may be ready for this book. I read this book in 2018 and this review is mostly transcribed in shortened form from my book journal.
March 13, 2019
A book made up of dozens of movie reviews would, for most authors, serve as a way of putting together short stories, something you can call a novel, without much of an actual plot. This isn’t what happens here. We learn early on that our protagonist writes movie reviews for a website that no one seems to read, and he’s fallen into the habit of using his reviews as a journal. While no one reads the reviews, they are meant to be read by others, which results in hilarious 'reviews.' Our critic wants to be seen as intelligent and intellectual, consumed by the big questions of life, and we end up with descriptions of arguments and discussions that are so much surface noise, under which we find the story.
This is one of those books that's set in the near future where there doesn't seem to be any reason for the setting. I didn't mind--I found the tangential references to future culture, government, food, etc. worked.
This is one of those books that's set in the near future where there doesn't seem to be any reason for the setting. I didn't mind--I found the tangential references to future culture, government, food, etc. worked.
June 3, 2021
A Short Film About Disappointment - There's a lot going on in this short, odd book: a pretentious film critic in a techno-dystopian society convinces his millionaire pal to help him make the perfect film (although neither has any practical filmmaking experience), while also being possessed by the friend who ran away with his wife, and trying to court a lady doctor. The plot is a little thin but there are some incredible similes: a character tells stories like he is "clubbing pigeons," another man wipes his butt "like a shinobi plunging a dagger into a shogun's heart," or something very close.
May 24, 2021
About a guy in one possible future who lives in a surreal existence where he writes movie reviews. Along the way he includes data about his miserable life. He is 'dating' his doctor(?) It is said that movie reviewers aspire to make a movie, he does, so, he seeks funding. He lumbers around. Swearing.
Those in the movie industry may want to look at this as he has many movie ideas, some which could be made into movies?
Those in the movie industry may want to look at this as he has many movie ideas, some which could be made into movies?
October 9, 2021
Fantastic, we need more books like this. Realistic in a world full of soppy tripe designed to make us feel good. Litterature is about truth not about making us feel good. It's hard to admit this character is so relatable. Don't be fooled by bad reviews, I think they just didn't get it. Entertaining, with a fantastic understanding of cinema and an amazing imagination.
May 2, 2023
I wanted to like this more
The premise of the novel appealed to me, but in reality the premise - of being a story told through a series of fictional movie reviews- didn’t pan out. The characters were basically all unlikeable so there was little emotional connection to the story. The writing itself was interesting and that’s what kept me going.
The premise of the novel appealed to me, but in reality the premise - of being a story told through a series of fictional movie reviews- didn’t pan out. The characters were basically all unlikeable so there was little emotional connection to the story. The writing itself was interesting and that’s what kept me going.
October 8, 2018
I love the way this author strings words together. So many wonderful quotes couched in this original concept of a story told in movie reviews. The main character writes for a site he's sure no one reads, so he throws in his own work, part biographical, part film pitch. Really enjoyed this novel.
August 30, 2018
Great for fans of Charles Yu! So enjoyable. I can't even imagine coming up with 80 premises!
December 4, 2018
This book is written with a Nabokovian playfulness through a narrative device that I wish I had thought of first. Right in my wheelhouse.
December 16, 2018
At once clever, eeking out the narrative in the form of movie reviews, and insane. A surprisingly compelling new approach to tech-dystopia.
July 12, 2022
I probably should have DNFed. It just wasn't for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews