Anxiety-Proof: The Mothership Takes a Light Approach to Heavier Subjects

By Justin Mazzola

justin.mazzola@gmail.com

If you’re curious about SF Indie, Anxiety-Proof: The Mothership is a wonderful six-minute entry into the festival’s selection of short films. Maybe it’s because my friend unexpectedly impregnated a Hinge date during the pandemic, but I really enjoyed this film about a superhero who learns a past Tinder fling is carrying his unborn child. 

Protagonist Captain Anxiety comes across as a calmer, less chatty Deadpool as he fights villains and his conflicted emotions about becoming a father. The cinematography includes pleasing views of the Golden Gate Bridge and hilariously low-budget special effects. In fact, the only thing “special” about them is how woefully bad they are. The film feels like the Lonely Island guys wrote an episode of Girls, or a director’s cut of Knight Rider with more female anatomy and less chest hair. 

Creator and star Rick T. Morrison packs the six-minute film with subtle comedy. Why does the protagonist have a bloody tissue hanging out of his nostril? Was it from the battle he’d just completed, or was his anxiety causing him to pick his nose until it bled? And when Amanda frontloads her pregnancy reveal by saying, “It’s been eating at me,” is that intentional comedy? The next time you’re feeling anxious about all the comedy options on Netflix, try streaming SF Indie instead for a quick laugh. Anxiety-Proof: The Mothership won’t let you down.