Bo Burnham: Inside is billed as a "stand-up special" but is more akin to a documentary/art exploration. Written/shot/performed/edited by Bo Burnham who first became popular on youtube, then a touring stand-up, and in recent years has transitioned primarily into acting and directing gives here his most raw work yet. Taking place entirely in his guest house/shed over the course of the past year in quarantine he flits from bit to bit, song to song, all the while channeling the existential ennui and plaintive solitude we all experienced to some degree the past year.
Although shot in a long and narrow room Burnham clearly took great pains with the set ups, lighting, editing. There's the threat of claustrophobia but the viewer is never in its clutches, the "special" has momentum, punctuated by manic crescendos and listless pauses, it moves with a kind of desperate and courageous endurance. And it's funny certainly, the set pieces are relatively disparate, with little cohesion beyond the title and the circumstances under which it were shot. But we are also given much more introspection, doubt, pain, and honesty from Burnham. It has the polish of his early work but it's emotion is significantly richer and more truthful than his other more conventional specials, more of a piece with his recent directorial debut Eighth Grade.
Cataloguing the various sequences would be counter intuitive suffice it to say in its rawness, in its desperation, in its fortitude it diverts and inspires.
One of the first major cultural works to address the pandemic.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't Miss It.
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