Storyline
A struggling actress and an aspiring playwright pour all of their creative energy into the only paying work they can find: role-playing demonstrations for corporate training seminars. When they book the biggest gig of their careers at a hotel conference, they commence work on their most ambitious production to date.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Trailer
Reviews
88
With his debut feature Dim the Fluorescents, Toronto filmmaker Daniel Warth has created an astonishing calling card – an earnest and entertaining celebration of process and performance, not to mention a tremendous showcase for two homegrown actors on the cusp of greatness.
75
Compared to the rigidity and self-imposed formal restrictions that can plague a lot of indie titles, watching Dim the Fluorescents unexpectedly bifurcate its narrative or collapse its characters’ own drama into their mini-plays with such assuredness is legitimately exciting.
75
Fluorescents’ showy camera moves and full-jazz-hands theater-kid dorkiness are a tonic against the excessively muted naturalism that has come to define indie style.
70
Village Voice
The film’s examination of the artistic grind is promising, but Dim the Fluorescents clocks in at over two hours, proving tiresome at times. Luckily, Skwarna and Armstrong’s quirky chemistry keeps the lights on in this overlong debut.
60
The smart premise is muddled with far too many tangents — bumbling romances, rivalries with old classmates, troubled cats, precocious teens, angry dance sequences. When focusing on the central relationship, the film is at its best.
Other Movies You Might Enjoy
Apr 15, Apr 2010Death at a Funeral (2010)
Mar 5, Mar 1970Airport (1970)
Dec 9, Dec 2025Merv (2025)
Dec 16, Dec 1999Any Given Sunday (1999)
Aug 22, Aug 2008The Cheetah Girls: One World (2008)
Oct 29, Oct 1993Fatal Instinct (1993)
Jul 21, Jul 2016Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
Apr 1, Apr 2016Meet the Blacks (2016)