John Laurie’s short film ‘All Z’ is an intoxicating, electric farewell to adolescence an experimental, music-driven fever dream capturing the raw energy of youth on the brink of adulthood. With cinematography by Tony Luu and photographic imagery by Laurie, the film is an beautifully crafted visual mixtape, blending fashion, movement, and light into a kaleidoscopic celebration of Generation Z’s restless spirit.
The premise is universal: high school is over. A group of young men and women bask in the weightless joy of freedom, riding the aftershock of their final day at school . There’s no dialogue, only music, as if the film itself breathes in sync with its subjects. Laurie structures the film like a photo album in motion, like a still image you’d tear from a glossy magazine and pin to a bedroom wall. Makeup, fashion, styling – every detail is dialed in to reflect the hyper-stylized self-expression of today’s youth.
Luu’s cinematography is both raw and elegant, capturing the controlled chaos of youth in motion with a painterly eye. The color grading is lush yet real, balancing the film’s heightened aesthetic with an authenticity that makes it resonate. There’s an almost dreamlike quality to the way the images flow together – fragmented, yet seamlessly connected by the film’s euphoric rhythm.
But then – silence. A tonal shift in the final second. The stillness of the real world seeps in, snapping one character (and us) back to reality. The weight of what’s next overwhelms. ‘All Z’ may be a love letter to youth, but it doesn’t let us forget that youth is fleeting. A film of pure feeling, perfectly attuned to its generation.
