Omi was written and directed by Adam Lebowitz Lockard. It is about a man named Matt, played by Lockard, who is about to take the next major step in his relationship with his girlfriend, Christina, portrayed by Ashley Eskew. Life becomes a bit complicated when he gets possessed by his extremely Yiddish grandmother.

The performances are good. Lockard carries Omi on his shoulders. He plays both the protagonist and the antagonist. In a vacuum, I think he does a good job at doing both. When he’s talking to himself it is often more difficult for me to buy. I don’t know if it is because of the pacing or the editing. When I think of similar performances in other media it is difficult for me to pinpoint what elevates performances such as this. I’m sure it is a very subtle thing. The characters are solid. All three managed to show multiple dimensions in a short amount of time. The character relationships are well portrayed. The dialogue is satisfactory.

The pacing is quick, but nothing suffers from it because it tells a simple focused story. The comedy feels light even when it’s going broad. The atmosphere is light, airy, and pleasant. It affected how I processed what was shown. If the atmosphere was darker, the same jokes would have hit differently. I experienced a decent amount of laughs during Omi‘s fifteen-minute runtime. The music is also worth addressing. It complements the atmosphere, the actions, and the characters. It’s playful even when it is being foreboding. It is often present, but it never feels overbearing.

Simplicity is interesting. On the one hand, you don’t have too many extraneous things that could potentially hurt you. On the other hand, if something is off there isn’t anything to fall back on. Omi is not ambitious, but it is a good-humored, good-natured, relatable product. The troupes here are not unique, but the perspective is. The benefit of seeing something from a different perspective is you realize it doesn’t divide the way some people might think. There’s no barrier here because one might not be Jewish. When you watch something from the perspective of another culture, people, or country you come to realize it’s all the same cake with different frosting. In the case of Omi Matt struggles to be “enough,” as many of us have, and watching someone overcome such a struggle in their own way can be quite the comfort.