In Five: Heist Thriller Set on a Day When Everything Goes Wrong

Jackson Bartholomew’s In Five, co-written with Jacob Oswald, is a heist thriller that went on a quest for some of the most frustrating ways a plan could go sideways. For one, there are four people for a plan meant for five. For another, three might have been better after all. 

The opening scene, set inside a car, is the last moment of levity that the group is going to experience in a while, as they prepare to rob a comic book store at gunpoint. Arguing essentially for the fun of it, they cannot be bothered when Tyler (Jhye Smith), the youngest, raises the issue of an absent fifth member. But the plan, he keeps insisting. But, familiar to most people who are the youngest in any setting, Tyler is roundly ignored. 

Problems are only beginning to arrive for the group, however. Turning up unmedicated despite warnings from his brother, Lucas (Tray Milton), Tyler becomes a ticking bomb that threatens to take the whole team down. As mistakes pile up and indecision sways the odds, what price must Chris (Jay Black), Teresa (Natalie Harris), Tyler, and Lucas pay? 

Tyler’s entrance—pausing to stand at the doorway wearing the sunglasses and kerchief, simultaneously carrying the possibility of immense chaos and the pose of something mindless, he is the image of every child and sibling—is a brief second of humour that only the viewers might find funny. To the characters, it spells serious trouble. 

The action is shot with standard coverage, but the feeling of real time and real life is pronounced for the increasingly messy state the heist takes. Uncoordinated, inattentive, and without a real or observed chain of command, the robbers make for a masterclass of what not to do when trying to commit a crime and stay out of jail. The tension evoked by the dramatic aspect ratio mingles with frustration at the characters’ missteps and foolish incognizance of time until the climax comes tumbling. Of the actors, Smith is the standout. When he freaks out, you cannot help but sympathise. Nor can you help but feel for Milton’s Lucas, who is consequently faced only with bad choices. 

If there is something that In Five gets right, it is eliciting emotion from the viewer. You may not agree with the characters’ choices (it will be hard not to criticise them) but you will be invested in the outcome. Such is also the very nature of the heist movie generally, but this rollercoaster carrying dropouts from robbery school is especially good at getting its viewers to come along for the ride and throw up by the end. 

Watch In Five Short Film