Sundance Film Festival

Swedish writer/director Patrik Eklund recently cut a show reel for a local magician and ended up with four hours of footage of the hapless man and—more importantly—an idea for a new short film. The result is Instead of Abracadabra, a very funny and sweet 22-minute short about a twentysomething slacker who lives with his parents and dreams of being a magician.

The trick up Eklund’s sleeve is recognizing that very important moment of suspense right before the magician plunges the sword into the box containing his volunteer. If a magician is truly awful, that person in the box really should be scared for their life. Since Tomas (Simon Berger) has already sent his mother to the hospital doing the same trick, the audience now knows that anything can happen.

Eklund and cinematographer David Grehn shot the movie on a four-day schedule, whch is pretty remarkable for a film of this length. They had plenty of good performances to choose from, though, and Eklund has an eye for the humanistic. Everyone in Instead of Abracadabra, including disapproving old Dad (Jacob Nordenson), has a soft side and is impossible not to root for.

The script is particularly impressive, filling the character of Tomas up with perfect little details. He can’t seem to do even a simple task such as mowing the lawn without seriously damaging something. He dresses like a 1950s-era performer with a bowtie and cape, but puts on eyeliner and purports to practice a darker magic of “goth and mayhem.” He’s constantly throwing coins or blowing glitter in someone’s face with a magic swish of his hand, especially when they’re not expecting it. He’s even got his own signature word: He uses the word “chimay” instead of—well—that other overfamiliar “magic word.”

Reading that back makes the short sound a lot more ridiculous than it is. Come to think of it, Berger sells the character of Tomas with an inherent goodness and more than a dash of undeserved cockiness. He also should get a lot of the credit for making Instead of Abracadabra a very memorable Sundance short.

Sundance is offering Patrik Eklund’s Instead of Abracadabra as a free iTunes download through Jan. 25.