Peter Jang’s self-starring Mask is a psychological drama with a traumatised army veteran as its protagonist. Being desperately plagued by all that he wishes to erase, or at least repress, Nick sees suicide as the only natural path. But it is not enough. The film is set within the events of one evening. Nick is… Continue reading Mask: The Pull and Push of Trauma
Tag: Drama Short Film Review
With Joyful Ring: Depression in the Time of Christmas
Gary Karapetyan’s With Joyful Ring is a 12-minute Christmas short meant to directly address the senses. The protagonist, a middle-aged widower, reaches into his memories of his deceased wife to rediscover joy during Christmas, a holiday they loved and cherished. The film tries to address the five senses to illustrate the rebirth of a feeling… Continue reading With Joyful Ring: Depression in the Time of Christmas
Up and Down: The Unravelling of a Routine and the Self it Protects
Luke Masella’s 9-minute Up and Down is an astute character study of its protagonist, a man who might as well be the only person existing in the room. Obsessed with fitness and bulk, the young man appears to drown out everything else besides his own self-image. The man (Aaron Latta-Morissette) is shown in the middle… Continue reading Up and Down: The Unravelling of a Routine and the Self it Protects
The Mask in Our Hands: Showcasing Everything (that will Attract Viewers)
Joseph Sacks’ The Mask in Our Hands is a dystopian sci-fi that derives its aesthetics from Blade Runner but is firmly grounded in a logical extreme of current times. Social media is the dominant way of life, and a natural friend of the older, but no less precarious landscape of talk shows. In The Mask… Continue reading The Mask in Our Hands: Showcasing Everything (that will Attract Viewers)
My Name is Moe: Utterances around (and Sometimes by) Fat Bodies
Kabir McNeely’s 14-minute My Name is Moe is a personal exploration of a teenage boy’s relationship with himself and with the world. Moe lives with an eating disorder, body image issues and social anxiety, all connected to his obesity. McNeely plays Moe. His search history is filled with queries about losing weight (fast). His parents… Continue reading My Name is Moe: Utterances around (and Sometimes by) Fat Bodies
Òran na h-Eala: A Biopic that Does More
Steve Exeter’s Òran na h-Eala (translating to Song of the Swan) portrays Moira Shearer’s experiences as she teeters on the edge of a life-altering decision. There is ballet on one hand that she has worked so long and so hard for. On the other, there is a career in film enticing her with the promise… Continue reading Òran na h-Eala: A Biopic that Does More
The Stupid Boy: Stupidities in Love and Hate Make the World Turn
Phil Dunn’s The Stupid Boy brings together a boy who is reluctant to accept that others can be malicious, and a man who has come to believe that others are nothing but malicious. The others for the latter are based on an us and them distinction. Which is to say, the man is a supremacist. … Continue reading The Stupid Boy: Stupidities in Love and Hate Make the World Turn
Eureka: The Dragon Comes of Age through Violence
Miida Chu’s Eureka is an intimate journey into the experiences of a young girl straining to rupture the walls that cage her into a life of sex work. Set against the backdrop of anti-Chinese riots of 1885 in California, the film lets itself be completely infused with her tumult as she tries to negotiate with… Continue reading Eureka: The Dragon Comes of Age through Violence
Gutted: A Performance of Masculinity and the Price of it
Jacob Isaiah Kelly’s Gutted examines what it means to be a good man, a good boyfriend and an ideal supporter when put to the test by a time of crisis. At the ironical centre of the story is Jack, a man trying to be his best for his girlfriend who was assaulted mere days ago. … Continue reading Gutted: A Performance of Masculinity and the Price of it
The Other Woman: Questions of Morality Around Lust, and Questioning Domesticity
Cameron Lee Horace’s The Other Woman chronicles the life of a septuagenarian woman in a nursing home in 2004, her life narrated by her snarky younger self. Twenty-two minutes long, the film follows as Margaret recounts the pleasures of her life, that ‘Maisie’ now seems completely separated from. Rescued from her third floor apartment, no… Continue reading The Other Woman: Questions of Morality Around Lust, and Questioning Domesticity