A man doesn't know his friend is an alien. Then his idiot alien cousin visits.


HIS COUSIN HERSCHEL is used with permission from Laura Stoltz. Learn more at   / hiscousinherschel_film  .


Jerry has been living with his best friend and roommate Neil, sharing a house as well as a fish named Frederick. But their pleasant existence is interrupted by a visit by Jerry's cousin Herschel. Herschel is family, but he's also odd, a little eccentric and a high-maintenance troublemaker.

But as it turns out, Herschel's visit isn't just family fun. Herschel and Jerry are aliens, and Herschel is checking up on Jerry, who has extended his "year abroad" on Earth. Jerry doesn't want to return, however, forcing him to decide between returning to his past or owning up to his true identity to his best friend.

Directed and written by Laura Stoltz, this quirky comedy short is an appealing mash-up of family drama and extraterrestrial silliness. Amiable, loose and reveling in the tangents and detours, the story doesn't take itself seriously, with its premise of "aliens gone abroad" on a kind of gap year. But it's all in service of a message extolling the virtues of friendship, tolerance and appreciating humankind, despite all their flaws.

The film begins with a shot of a placid home on a suburban street, interrupted by the inferred arrival of an alien ship that sets off alarms and electrical surges. The film that unfurls from there, however, is wryly naturalistic and resolutely ordinary in feel. But for Jerry, that's the appeal: his life with Neil revolves around what snacks they eat and what shows they watch. As the roommates, actors Gethin Anthony and Michael Fox have a similar grounded energy, making it easy to see why they enjoy one another's company.

But that life is imperiled by the arrival of Herschel, who reminds Jerry that he's not human but an alien from a vastly different culture. Herschel is a unique comic creation, played with lordly relish by actor Jay Reum, and combines snobbery, high energy and obliviousness to great effect. Just like that condescending family member always disrupting occasions and visits with their high maintenance demands and inability to see any other perspective but their own, Herschel is a "piece of work" and immediately stirs up trouble for Jerry. But it forces Jerry to confront the truth of who he is and what he wants out of life.

The climactic scene of HIS COUSIN HERSCHEL involves a trial presided over by an extraterrestrial baby and run by aliens whose notion of the criminal justice system has been formed by courtroom dramas that Jerry has sent to his home planet instead of actual reports. It sounds crazy, but it works when it's dashed off in such an off-hand, casual and fun-loving style of storytelling. And it's also a low-key but sweet message about being true to yourself, appreciating the good in others and enjoying the pleasures of a good TV show and some snacks at home. In a complicated world, sometimes it's those simple things that are worth striving for.