Tom Goes to the Bar Review

January 26, 2022 at 10:52pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a short film where one man, Tom (Tom Noonan) comes to a bar and does so in a rather strange way. It’s business as usual until Tom arrives where mayhem begins and the craze starts. There’s a man randomly throwing darts in a dangerous way and a woman using a phone. It’s pure mayhem, an insight into a bar at a random time and the wild moments that follow.

All told through a very simple, perhaps mundane yet entirely fascinating trip into a regular life of a man. Not just what he presently is doing, but what he’s done and what he could do. Not that he is necessarily wild, but that the opportunity is there or perhaps really isn’t. It somewhat gets you thinking and that’s special.

This has a very distinct sort of visual style to it. It’s black and white, with a clearly placed sort of distortion to make it feel more exact to a bygone era.

It’s got the cliché things you might see within this type of bar during that period of time whether that be in a real life sense or one you’d see when watching a movie. It’s quite fascinating. Our lead is literally upside down, but that’s normal to those around. There’s a hilarious throwing of darts going on which is wildly dangerous and while everything is crazy nothing really was there.

The Conclusion

Tom Goes to the Bar was imaginative, unique and bizarre while still painting a really neat picture. It’s a world that’s somewhat regular, while at the same time entirely wacky. It was effective in drawing my attention, while also wild enough to make me think about what exactly was being said and in general why it was being said. Very artistically shot, effective and a great use of each minute that was present within this short film. I thoroughly enjoyed it and what it had to offer.

Tom Goes to the Bar Review at Home with Streamed Viewing during Sundance Film Festival
Screening Provided by Sundance Film Festival

Rating Overall: 8.4