BIASED is a short film directed by Andrea Lwin that features a put-upon landlord (David S. Jung) showing a recently vacated apartment to two couples he accidentally booked at the same time. That condensed premise is enough of a setup for a situational comedy but add to it that the reason the apartment is available is because the last tenant died there, and they’re still trying to remove evidence of that tenant’s demise before the new prospective tenants find out, sends this nine-minute farce to the next level.

The character of Val (Charles Kim) is a quick and early laugh in BIASED, as an Asian man playing Russian. The characters overall, and the entire feel of the piece is very “LA” to me. That’s not a bad thing at all. It reminded me of looking at apartments in Los Angeles when I was living there, and the authenticity of that helped me feel more immersed in the little world the director had created with these characters. The veteran cast hits their marks and their punchlines at every turn.

BIASED is a wonderful example of working in a single location with a limited cast and crew. The director, also pulling double duty as the cleaner Lucy, has the comedic beats of the film set just right, and knows when to let up a bit, and when to ratchet up the stakes. From start to finish this comedy understands the assignment, and even gives a little extra with an ending purposefully intended to make the audience think about who they would ask to be the next tenant of the apartment.

With a definite lack of comedies being programmed by many film festivals (features certainly more than shorts), BIASED was a fun watch from beginning to end and a perfect example of how a tight script with the right cast can take a simple premise and make it great.