WUSS
WUSS
CLAY LIFORD, 2011
Catalog No.: FTF-154
Length: 96 minutes
Joining “Election” in the annals of movies about morally compromised high school teachers, “Wuss” conjures an agreeably bleak miasma of comic anomie and suburban self-loathing. Mr. Liford’s sense of pitch is spot on. - Andy Webster, The New York Times
WUSS is the story of a high school teacher who faces constant ridicule after he's repeatedly beaten up by several of his own students. Having nowhere else to turn, he eventually teams up with another of his students to fight back. This student, a young girl, is feared school-wide because of a dark family reputation. She also has an unfortunate nickname grafted to her due to her predilection for smoking discarded cigarettes. Bonded in battle, the student and teacher form a friendship that stretches the use of the word inappropriate.
Directed by Clay Liford
Written by Clay Liford
Cinematography by Christopher Simpson
Produced by Barak Epstein, Clay Liford, Angie Meyer, Eric Steele
Starring: Nate Rubin, Alicia Anthony, Alex Karpovsky, Tony Hale, Cody Jones, Jenny Shakeshaft, Frank Mosley, Jonathan Lisecki
Festivals: SXSW, AFI, Dallas International Film Festival
PRESS
"By repeatedly upending expectations and shifting tones, writer-director Clay Liford keeps his audience keenly fascinated and anxious throughout "Wuss," an impressively crafted drama laced with darkly comic humor."
-Joe Leydon, Variety
"Joining “Election” in the annals of movies about morally compromised high school teachers, Clay Liford’s “Wuss” conjures an agreeably bleak miasma of comic anomie and suburban self-loathing."
-Andy Webster, The New York Times
"Wuss begins as a daringly funny black comedy about arrested development, stunted masculinity, and the destructively useless education system employed in American schools."
-Nicholas Bell, Ion Cinema
"A witty black comedy with sociological aspirations that hits unexpected emotional marks while nimbly sidestepping clichés."
-Inkoo Kang, The Village Voice
"These days, most of the comedies we end up seeing boast ridiculously impressive ensemble casts, massive budgets, and too often still fall short of being really, truly funny. Wuss is not any of the above."
-Ali Hoffman, Nylon
"Wuss reminded me of a waking nightmare and evoked some false memories of adolescent victimization."
-Ryan Mooney, Tiny Mixtapes
"Liford chooses to dig past the obvious, and Wuss becomes a story about a character struggling to deal with a brutal world."
-Jette Kernion, Slackerwood
"Playful. Boundary-pushing."
-Ashley Moreno, The Austin Chronicle