Short Films in Focus: 24 Hours After Reading Tuesdays With Morrie (with Scott Tinkham) | Short Films in Focus | Roger Ebert

"I'm not sure I'm fully qualified to write this review, even though I have seen Scott Tinkham's "24 Hours After Reading Tuesdays With Morrie" more than a few times. I almost- almost-programmed it for the Chicago Critics Film Festival this year, but blinked, second-guessed, and perhaps chickened out. "Are people gonna get this? Do I get it? Is 'Tuesdays With Morrie' a reference point that will register with the younger audiences who come to our fest?" These were the questions that kept nagging at me."

"He turns the last page and suddenly experiences an absurd level of spiritual awakening, turning him into a wandering, wide-eyed dolt whose inner dialogue sounds like a bad imitation of a Terrence Malick film. He wanders into traffic while staring up at palm trees and admiring their beauty, while people going about their day look on, bemused and probably filming him for TikTok videos. His girlfriend leaves him, but he remains committed to noticing and feeling connected to the oneness of the universe."

A man reads the final pages of Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie and undergoes an exaggerated spiritual awakening that alters his behavior. He becomes a wandering, wide-eyed figure whose inner monologue resembles a Terrence Malick imitation. He walks into traffic, stares at palm trees, and attracts bemused onlookers likely to film him. His girlfriend leaves, yet he remains steadfast in feeling connected to oneness until someone violently tries to force him back to normal. The film mines the tension between genuine transformative feeling and the social reality of having to resume ordinary life, turning the premise into recurring humor.

Read at Roger Ebert