When Oscar-nominated producer Rebecca Pruzan (On My Mind) and Academy Award powerhouse Kim Magnusson (Helium, The Danish Poet) join forces, expectations rise, and SNIPPED delivers on every count. Directed and written by Alexander Saul, this bold, darkly comic short finds a piercing humanity in one of the most intimate rituals imaginable.

A Jewish convert. A Muslim doctor. One holy snip, and a whole lot of tension.

Inspired by Saul’s own life, SNIPPED unfolds in a cramped Danish clinic where a simple religious ceremony turns into an existential standoff. What begins as a sacred rite of passage quickly unravels into a study in discomfort, not just physical, but cultural, spiritual, and profoundly human.

Saul, a directing student at Copenhagen’s renowned Super16, proves himself a master of tonal balance. He moves effortlessly between absurdist comedy and raw emotion, evoking shades of Ruben Östlund and Yorgos Lanthimos, but with a deeply personal pulse. The result is a film that’s as funny as it is unsettling, a mirror held up to the contradictions of modern faith and identity.

The performances ground the absurdity with heart. Louis Bodnia Andersen brings vulnerability and wry self-awareness to Adam, the convert caught between belief and biology, while Imad Abul-Foul’s Muslim doctor embodies both warmth and wary professionalism. Their awkward chemistry drives the film’s central tension, navigating a ritual that’s both ancient and absurdly modern.

Behind the camera, the craftsmanship is unmistakable. Jonas Møller’s cinematography finds quiet poetry in sterile spaces; Mira Thu’s crisp editing sharpens the film’s rhythm of humor and unease; and the score, by Henrik Goldschmidt, Bilal Irshed, Rosanna Lorenzen, and Anders Singh Vesterdahl, blends Jewish and Arabic musical traditions into something hauntingly unified.

But it’s Saul’s vision, nurtured by Pruzan and Magnusson’s steady producing hands, that makes SNIPPED more than a quirky premise. It’s a meditation on coexistence in an era of division, an invitation to laugh, wince, and maybe, just maybe, understand one another a little better.

That courage runs through every frame. With SNIPPED, Alexander Saul doesn’t just make a film, he performs a cinematic act of faith.

Verdict:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ — A razor-sharp short that cuts deep, blending humor, humanity, and holy tension. An Oscar contender with soul.

Mark Damson