Sean Nam’s Cutting Loose features the ending of a bad friendship and the consternation it entails. The latter is such an overwhelming presence (and understandably so) for its protagonist that the film may have felt compelled to take its sci-fi angle seriously. The abovementioned sci-fi essentially boils down to the old My dad works for… Continue reading Cutting Loose: Laughably Bad Lies and Terribly Bad Friends
Author: Indie Shorts Mag Team
Tears at the Edge of the World: Infidelity and the Places Guilt Takes Its Prisoners
Kevin Seo’s 10-minute Tears at the Edge of the World poeticises the distracted boyfriend meme into a drama of lust, remorse, and heartbreak. With its dreamy, sunshine flooded aesthetic, it comes as a surprise when the hopeful voiceover narration takes a turn towards something troubling. But this dissonant sound-image is here to stay as the… Continue reading Tears at the Edge of the World: Infidelity and the Places Guilt Takes Its Prisoners
Flight into Darkness: Declarations of and Assertions Against Insanity
Alexander Ratter’s Flight into Darkness, a loose adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s book of the same name, retains the sibling relationship but switches the male protagonist with Maria, the fears of losing their grasp of reality intact. Running to twenty-seven minutes, the film comes with a loose narrative chain that culminates into an undone state that… Continue reading Flight into Darkness: Declarations of and Assertions Against Insanity
The Dealer: Micro Comedy on a Micro Budget
James Peacock’s The Dealer, a 5-minute comedy written by Sam Liddell, has its protagonist shuttling between its two other characters with an urgent stash to refill. A simple plotline in simple presentation, the story is an amusing gag filmed on a smartphone. Brad (Samuel Peacock) has just returned from a trip for odds and ends… Continue reading The Dealer: Micro Comedy on a Micro Budget
Polaris: Young Love and Its Happy, Messy, Fleeting Glories
Eleni Doucas’ 17-minute young-adult romance, Polaris follows Lucy and Aidan, young residents at a mental health facility, who develop a friendship that flows into a fraught romance. The leading cast, emerald green in their inexperience, convincingly pull off their characters’ by turns awkward, dramatic, and just plain sweet relationship—quintessential young romance. The pairing is classic:… Continue reading Polaris: Young Love and Its Happy, Messy, Fleeting Glories
ID EST: (Sci-fi) Action for Its Own Sake
Shayda Frost’s ID EST, a 12-minute sci-fi, is weak on the writing but boasts the aesthetic of a high-budget slick, sci-fi action flick. Following the encounter of the main cast with their evil counterparts, the story dives into the background of its protagonist in flashbacks while in the present she is hanging on to her… Continue reading ID EST: (Sci-fi) Action for Its Own Sake
The Interview: A Chaotic Drama on The Legal Kaleidoscope and the Shifts it Allows
Liam Treacy’s The Interview is a peculiar, potent eighteen-minute drama about a lawyer who wants to be hired and another lawyer who gives him the perverse skinny on how to do it. A two-character plot means that the roomy runtime is filled to the brim with tense character development that in turn illustrates the sordid… Continue reading The Interview: A Chaotic Drama on The Legal Kaleidoscope and the Shifts it Allows
Broken Castles: Implied Historical Trauma and Fresh Efforts to Outrun Them
Ginevra Gentili’s Broken Castles, written by Ryan Napier, follows the tug of war between two brothers and the opposing perspectives they cling to, living in an ancient castle which seems intent on keeping them both tied to it. There isn’t a whole lot of dialogue, replaced instead by the internal torment of younger brother Shiloh,… Continue reading Broken Castles: Implied Historical Trauma and Fresh Efforts to Outrun Them
Stall: Grief in Preparation for Unspeakable Grief in a Film on Gun Violence
Arlo Grey Gordon’s Stall is a triumph of writing in independent cinema. Shot in a single take, the 7-minute drama depicts the terror of crossing paths with American gun violence. It is keenly specific to the experience, and the camera that follows its protagonist, almost but not always to the depths of her helpless despair,… Continue reading Stall: Grief in Preparation for Unspeakable Grief in a Film on Gun Violence
Canta Santiago: Grief, Amid the Demands of Showbiz and Wages
James Valdez’s Canta Santiago is set in a restaurant and features a protagonist with a recently passed brother, so thoughts of The Bear are not totally out of place, but this is a different arena altogether. For one, the protagonist is a child. For two, he does not have room, not really, to fail. There are two… Continue reading Canta Santiago: Grief, Amid the Demands of Showbiz and Wages