Dumb-Bell Letters No. 9: Proof that people have always been weird

Is this for you?

If you enjoy the kind of stuff that usually ends up on a 'funny typos' listicle, you'll probably get a kick out of this. If you need a plot, high stakes, or literally anything resembling a traditional movie, skip it.

Honestly, this isn't so much a 'film' as it is a project that somehow got filmed. It feels like someone decided to make a documentary about the absurdity of human communication, but kept it strictly focused on the people who shouldn't be allowed to use a pen.

The vibe

There's this strange, dry rhythm to it. Juliet Jowell is our guide through this mountain of mail, and the tone is mostly just pointing at a page and laughing. It’s not mean-spirited, really, just bewildered. Some people truly do not know how to articulate a basic request.

I found myself wondering if these people knew they were being archived for posterity. Probably not. That makes it both funnier and a little bit uncomfortable.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic, slightly disjointed energy you get in Free and Easy. There's that same sense of 'let's just see what happens if we put this in front of a camera.' No grand themes, no deep dive into the human condition. Just letters. Very, very confused letters.

Oddly specific observations

• The font choices on the title cards are aggressively early-century.
• There is one letter in particular about a misplaced shipment of hardware that I’m still thinking about. How do you even spell that word that way? Impressive, honestly.
• The pacing is erratic. Sometimes it flies, sometimes it pauses on a single sentence for way too long.
• I swear the background music sounds like it's being played in the next room over.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely a movie. But it’s an hour of watching people struggle with the English language and their own expectations of business, which feels like a universal experience. We've all sent that email. You know, the one where you're so frustrated you stop making sense.

If you're looking for something heavy, go watch Kastus Kalinovskiy instead. But if you want to feel a little bit better about your own literacy skills? Give this a whirl. It's harmless, strange, and mercifully brief. ✉️