Desperately Seeking Commitment: A Heartfelt Rom-Com That Sets Boundaries Right

Writer-director Finise Avery’s 14:09-minute long film offers a hilarious take on contemporary romance. The neatly edited short is a visually appealing endeavour that is well supported by a talented cast, and a tight screenplay. Smartly punctured with themes of serendipity, dating and a sweet ode to the 90s’ meet cutes, the film deftly navigates all tropes. To put it simply, Avery knows her craft well. While delicately touching upon a subject that is often presented with dread, she manages to do the same with generous humour. There is acute self awareness that makes her characters earnest and smart, easily avoiding the possibility of reducing them to caricatures.

When an overenthusiastic and overtly optimistic Sophie (Margherita Barbieri) sees Mark (Tyler Ham Pong), love blossoms, albeit only in her fantasy. Her desperate longing, coupled with self-attested theories on destiny and fate that are put to test when she manufactures tiny rendezvous and bump-ins, are so comical that the film could have easily sustained itself on it. But, there comes the punch–our Mark isn’t even aware, let alone be interested in this love! Barbieri brings forth such a terrific performance that it’s hard to not side her, even when it’s evident she is in the wrong. Her friends, who offer wonderful support, become the moral compass and the humour offers plenty of subtexts without making it seem too obvious. Pong, on the other hand, presents the calm–a restrained performance that makes his dilemma relatable and the ingenuity of their pseudo relationship hilarious.

Fast forward a series of funny mishaps, healthy banter and warnings; and we land on the mediation table being gently schooled on etiquette, boundaries and something even more nuanced–that love can’t be orchestrated. There is subtlety, structured build-up to the characters’ and their enmeshed journeys. What Avery manages to successfully capture is the pulse of each of her characters, making even the ensembles worth their screen time. They nudge the story into a decisive direction, never missing a beat. For a film that could have very easily gone tone deaf, Avery does the risky thing of flipping the narrative. The juxtaposition is not lost to the viewer. The frenzied hurry of New York plays in the backdrop as Sophie battles her own impulses. The colour palette keeps switching between sharp contrasts and neutrals reflecting on the inner worlds of its characters and Ian McGregor Smith’s composition beautifully captures Connor Lawson’s choreography–a seamless addition to the storyline that has a lot to unpack.

Desperately Seeking Commitment is a satire, but not comical in the traditional sense. There is no slapstick comedy here, just witty one-liners that reflect both on the characters’ personalities and their potential arc. The hopeless romanticism is layered with sarcasm and sharp wit that makes the short thoroughly enjoyable and funny. There is a lyrical tenor to the narration that blends music, dance and vivid visual imagery to bring to life Sophie’s rich inner world. An ode to romance, comedy and the sweet nothings of the bygone era, Desperately Seeking Commitment effortlessly blends all of these elements into the contemporary notions of romance, gender dynamics and the nuanced question–how far is far when it comes to love?

Watch Desperately Seeking Commitment Short Film Trailer