My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea

(2016) dir Dash Shaw w/Jason Schwartzman, Reggie Watts, Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph, Susan Sarandon [75 min; DCP]
From acclaimed graphic novelist Dash Shaw comes an audacious debut that is equal parts disaster cinema, high school comedy and blockbuster satire, told through a dream-like mixed media animation style that incorporates drawings, paintings and collage. When disaster strikes their seaside high school, nerds Dash (Schwartzman) and Assaf (Watts) lead a ragtag group of students in an attempt to escape. Even as the film piles on brilliant details like a post-apocalyptic cult formed by jocks, video game homages, and an infectious synth soundtrack, it never loses sight of the characters at the heart of the story.