'the sweater' review

By Nadia Dalimonte

Maziyar Khatam in The Sweater

Simple stories about everyday life are given impactful personality and nuance by filmmaker Maziyar Khatam. From writing and directing his 2022 comedic short film Bump, to writing and starring in the 2023 dramatic short film Baba, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in their respective years, Khatam has a knack for conveying jewels of original ideas in the little things. Between Bump and Baba, he has exercised an impressive range inclusive of sketch comedy and tense family dynamics. Khatam’s latest, The Sweater, brings him back into the director’s chair for a delightfully short and sweet story. With echoes of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and a finger on the pulse of situational humour, The Sweater blossoms into a resonating narrative about sentimentality and conflicted identity. Khatam packs layers into a 9-minute runtime and makes the most of every second on screen. In addition to directing and writing the film, he also stars as the endearing protagonist whose heart is torn on what he truly wants.

The film begins in a state of shambles with a couple's disagreement. Pressured by his girlfriend Anya (Chirkova) into giving away his clothes, Maz (Khatam) tries to reclaim a treasured mushroom sweater that is rightfully his before it disappears into the deep end of donations. He immediately longs for this piece of clothing that holds such great sentimental value for him. After speaking with a skeptical Oasis Clothing Bank employee, Maz makes his way to a sea of clothing racks in the hopes of finding his sweater. The idea of stealing from a thrift store after unintentionally donating an item feels like a page lifted from Larry David's book, wherein the humour derives from stumbling into scenarios almost spontaneously. The Sweater does have an impromptu energy, made pronounced by the grainy hand-held filming techniques and frequent close-ups of characters.

Losing something of sentimental value, potentially forever, is such a specific feeling that, depending on the item lost, can eat away at you. Nothing can replace the cherished item, and the film taps into that paranoia of desperately grasping for what is yours. Khatam layers a simple premise with a protagonist who faces an internal dilemma of sorts. Swayed by his girlfriend's persuasion and his friends' peer pressure, Maz gives more weight to the opinions of others than to his own. As a result, he finds himself in an identity crisis. The one thing he is sure of at this particular point in his life is the importance of the mushroom sweater, and his determination drives the story forward.

Khatam's largely unscripted, documentary-like approach to the material creates a strong observational tone. As a result, the film puts you into the eye of Maz's storm and captures his distressed frame of mind to palpable degrees. The whereabouts of his sweater genuinely feels like the weight of the world on his shoulders, which is deeply relatable for those who have had to unexpectedly part with an object that carries sentimental meaning. The film also captures how that level of attachment can be either misunderstood or dismissed by others. When Maz ultimately locates his sweater, and steals it from the thrift store, he later wears it to a social outing over drinks. After Maz excitedly shares the news of his beloved sweater, he is stunned into silence when his friends apathetically acknowledge it and swiftly move on.

​This moment exemplifies a great little thematic exploration around identity. Maz has nothing, and no one, to cheers this moment with. His supposed closest friends show no interest in celebrating the moment with him, which in turn makes the viewer question, how well do they really know him? The sweater is a fundamental part of who this character is, and watching that be dismissed in real-time feels like a very quiet gut punch to the heart. A deft choice of end credits music in Weezer's Undone (The Sweater Song) captures the scene's energy perfectly. Not only is the sweater's purpose coming undone, but so is the person proudly wearing it, whose pride is slipping away. The Sweater marks another authentic creative expression from Khatam, and an exciting continued collaboration with producer Anya Chirkova (who had previously directed Baba). The two operate on an incredibly compelling wavelength full of continued promise and a keen eye for what makes a simple story so special.