Brian (Peter Mastne) nervously and quickly straightens up his living room. Is someone coming over? He rearranges pens and scissors in a cup, and then he moves the remote control vertically–no, wait, now horizontally–and swaps it with the cup of pens.

Then he opens the door to his apartment. “Brian! Good to see you, man!” His brother, Jeremy (Rich Holton), has arrived, and gives him a warm hug. Brian seems a bit standoffish. Weird.

Jeremy is going to be staying at Brian’s place for a couple weeks (he snagged a local acting job and needs a place to crash), and Brian has quite a few thoughts on the matter. He brusquely lists off things they will need to split: rent, parking space, electricity, among others. Jeremy is somewhat taken aback. This? From his own brother? Brian coldly rebuffs him, “Do you think it’s fair of you to use my shower, cook on my stove, sleep on my couch, use my parking spot, without anything in return?” Jeremy stammers, caught off-guard. Embarrassed.

Very weird.

What in the wide world of dysfunctional relationships is going on here?

Oh, my, there is a lot to be discovered in just 15 minutes, kids, and director Harry Waldman is going to expertly guide you there. But pay attention: there are a lot of detours and enigmatic reveals (and a few stroboscopic effects, be careful). I’ve watched this short twice and I think I know what’s going on (or what went on, hehehe), but I wouldn’t swear to it in a court of law.

Basically a two-man show, Mastne and Holton are terrific as the brothers, parrying and feinting at each other in their verbal duels. Something very bad has happened between these two (or to these two?) and as this short spools out, it gets a little difficult to figure out who you can trust. I had sympathies for one of them in the first few minutes, then that shifted, then shifted back. And then again. Waldman’s story played me like a fiddle, and by the time it was over I felt a little mentally exhausted (but in a good way). Who is telling the truth? Who is covering up? Can you feel empathy for an unreliable narrator?

Final thoughts: check this thing out. I think you’ll have a good, freaky time.