When Paul comes home drunk in the middle of the night, having crashed his car, his parents and brother quick try to figure out how to cover it up. Blending Family drama, thriller, and hints of comedy, S/W Alum writer/director Andrew Fitzgerald (I Know You From Somewhere) is back on our site with The Family Circus, a film noir that expertly masters tension and draws you in, right until the last second, when it finally allows you to catch your breath. 

“This story is loosely based on an event that happened to my family and I some years ago”, Fitzgerald was quick to admit when we asked what inspired the film, adding that this is “the film noir we lived through”. We are all familiar with Christmas movies, no matter the genre, and we all know that the Holidays are always a great time for shit to go down. However, in The Family Circus, in just under 20 minutes, Fitzgerald paints a portrait of a family, and its dynamic, in a precise and compelling way.

The film centers on the cover up of the drunken accident and the stress it causes almost dictates the pace and the structure of The Family Circus. Narratively, the film is about a family coming together to protect one of their own, and how they are able to handle the stressfulness of the situation. By having them go through this, Fitzgerald’s sharp dialog reveals its depth and nuance as he also captures his own experience “growing up half Vietnamese in a small town”. 

The tension in this film is impressive, it is never static, and Fitzgerald plays with it to take the audience on a wild ride. On more than one occasion, the film surprises us with unexpected twists, which never feel manufactured and always make sense in the narrative arc. His extensive credits as an editor must have proved helpful with the pacing of the short, yet it is quite admirable that throughout the runtime we constantly feel the pressure of the situation and are, finally, only able to relax when the credits start rolling.

The editing, and the score all contribute to the engaging tone of the film, and while the screenplay is remarkably sharp, the performances are what truly glued me to the screen. Their chemistry as a family, with all its flaws, is incredible and instantly makes you root for them, despite the lack of exposition. The way each character tries to approach solving the situation, and the part they play in the cover up, not only brings the humor of the writing to the screen, but also the subtle nuances present in the screenplay.

The family dynamic is convincingly authentic and that is largely down to the performances of the cast. Every single one of them is incredible, but it’s Elyse Dinh, who portrays Linh, who deserves an additional round of applause, as the climax of the film, narratively and emotionally, relies heavily on her. With Fitzgerald confessing that “Linh’s speech at the end of the film was not scripted”, and was crafted during principal photography, it only makes that moment even more impressive.

The Family Circus had its World Premiere at the 2023 edition of Sundance, which was then followed with selections at SXSW, Aspen ShortsFest and Palm Springs ShortFest, ahead of its online debut as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Fitzgerald has recently directed the third season of Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, with his credits as an editor also include HBO’s How To with John Wilson and The Rehearsal.