Filmmakers John Mitchell and Christina Zeidler are proud of their Canadian roots, wasting no opportunity to name drop neighborhoods to make it abundantly clear that Portrait of a Serial Monogamist takes place in Toronto. It’s something New Yorkers have been doing this for ages now with their city, so at least this film offers a perspective on a different area (though the proximity is fairly close). The film also presents a different take on the typical rom-com, as it features a middle-aged lesbian who’s a serial monogamist with a long history of broken hearts. Some of the gambles in the film don’t pan out, like needlessly breaking the fourth wall by speaking directly to the camera, but without risking failure, you’ll never attain success, a lesson that the central character soon learns the hard way.

Elsie (Diane Flacks) has been a serial monogamist since grade school. Now, as forty-something lesbian, she’s practically an expert at breaking up with existing girlfriends and starting new relationships. Yet when Elsie breaks up with her girlfriend Robyn (Carolyn Taylor) of five years, she uncharacteristically finds it difficult to move on. This is strange because Portrait of a Serial Monogamist opens with a monologue of Elsie confidently giving advice on how to properly break up with your partner, even ending her spiel with “after you’ve made your decision, never look back.”

Unable to take her own advice, Elsie seeks opinions from close friends on how to cope with being single again. Her first instinct is to listen to her friend who suggests she immediately start dating. In the best scene in the film, her friend Sarah (Sabrina Jalees) explains how the holy grail of the dating world is the dog park. Sarah insists that you can tell a lot about a potential partner by the breed of dog they own—she recommends staying away from owners of black labs and retrievers as they are loyalty breeds and stick to owners of more free-spirted breeds, like cocker spaniels and terriers. Due to Jalees’ comedic background, this scene plays out with a ton of laughs, but it’s also clever. In the same vein as the famous car door lock advice from A Bronx Tale, Sarah warns, “if anyone tells you their name before the dog’s name, run.”

But most of these shoddy suggestions just feed into her old ways of thinking. It becomes frustrating to watch her struggle between a younger new fling (who hardly seems promising) or her former long-standing lover Robyn. Several flashbacks throughout the film that indicate how much Elsie still thinks about Robyn, making it obvious to everyone except for Elsie that she should get back with her. Which leads to the biggest issue of the film—not getting a chance to properly value the relationship that the film is centered around. Because Portrait of a Serial Monogamist begins with Elsie immediately dumping Robyn, it’s difficult to feel the impact of why she was so important to Elsie.

Mitchell and Zeidler provide some valuable insight on how heartbreak and love go hand-in-hand, and how trying to avoid one will result in losing the other. But in the end, this light-hearted indie comedy suffers from stiff performances (aside from Jalees, who could have used some more screen time), and an abundance of subplots and clichés. At least Portrait of a Serial Monogamist follows the (eventual) advice of its characters by attempting to provide fresh ideas from a unique vantage point, even if it doesn’t completely succeed.

It’s not often I encounter new film genres. There’s nothing new under the sun, right? But a comedic sci-fi folk music family film is definitely a first, and that’s precisely what The History of Future Folk is. Light in its approach, this film is low budget and walks a pretty straight path, so while it seems like it should be an absurd little indie comedy, it’s really just a fun fantasy with heart.

Providing the backstory for real-life musical duo, Future Folk, the film begins with Bill (Nils d’Aulaire) telling his daughter the seemingly fabricated tale of Hondo, a planet doomed by an incoming comet. The people of Hondo send their fearless leader, General Trius out into the universe to find them a new home. Armed with the means to wipe out humanity, Trius lands on Earth. He wanders into a bulk sales store where right before he is to annihilate the people of Earth to claim it for the Hondonians, he is overcome by a new sensation. Playing throughout the store is something he’s never experienced: music. Captivated by this discovery, Trius lets the people of Earth live and instead forms his own musical act, Future Folk.

Turns out, this is no story, and Bill is actuality General Trius. Many years later he has acclimated to being a human, even marrying a human, Holly (Julie Ann Emery), and having a daughter (Onata Aprile, seen more recently in What Maisie Knew). He hasn’t forsaken his native planet, but has lost contact with them.

Then one day another Hondonian, Kevin (Jay Klaitz), shows up to kill Bill and finish the job. Once Bill introduces Kevin to music (playing an AMAZING music-through-the-ages medley on his banjo), he too is overwhelmed by it to the point of abandoning his mission. The one-man folk act becomes a duo, playing frequently at a local bar run by Larry (Dee Snider, oddly enough). They garner a hipster following, but Bill’s lies start to catch up with him with the arrival of Kevin, especially when another bounty-hunter style alien shows up to kill them, and now Bill’s marriage is on shaky ground.

The entire concept sounds like it should be ridiculous to the point of hilarity, and it really isn’t. In fact this film wasn’t nearly as funny as I expected and oddly, didn’t really try to be. Granted, Jay Klaitz plays Kevin as though he’s seen one too many Jack Black films (or Tenacious D concerts) and Nils D’Aulaire has the innocent and pretty face that could easily be the Bret McKenzie type if they were trying to be Flight of the Conchords. But they just aren’t. The entire story is straight as an arrow. Just another bluegrass alien band from a planet in peril. Which somehow just makes it sweet and wholesome and easy to watch.

Admittedly, this film just made me somewhat nostalgic for Flight of the Conchords, as I would have liked a nice dose of ironic humor to go with the fantasy tale. And at times I thought to myself if only I were living in Brooklyn and knew of Future Folk, maybe I’d feel slightly more in on the joke. But at the same time it’s nice to see a film, especially a low budget one, feel comfortable in it’s own skin.