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★★★★
Directed by: Bradley Charlton
Written by: Bradley Charlton
Starring: Georgina Voaden, Tom Metcalf
This psychological thriller focuses on the life of a troubled woman. It's plot resembles Jacob's Ladder (1990).
Anais White (Voaden) is a career driven woman who appears to be in control of her life. However this changes when she begins experiencing sinister visions. These visions appear to be memories from her unfortunate past, revealing her abusive relationship with former boyfriend David (Metcalf) and that she might had been responsible for someone's death.
The film has a nonlinear narrative, cutting back in time through Anais's flashbacks. It also mixes fantasy with reality using an interesting technique: the heroine imagines a blue door and when she goes through it, she enters another time period of her past.
Voaden is fantastic as an intelligent individual, whose life is turned upside down when her visions commence. She is very believable at being a decent person one second and then in an instance is shown as a tormented drug addict. It is almost as if she is portraying two completely different people. Metcalf is also terrific as her old partner, who at first was gentle and friendly and then became aggressive and got her involved in drugs.
The editing is very creative. The filmmakers make quite effective use of fast cutting and dissolve techniques, creating intense sequences, especially during the visions. The use of lighting is also outstanding, with lighting repeatedly flashing on and off, generating chaos.
Although nearly the entire film was made utilizing color, there are brief, but beautiful shots of black-and-white cinematography, which include the closeup of a lightbulb and the extreme closeup of an eye.
The score fits perfectly with the mood of the narrative. It is intense, dynamic and sinister, helping create moments of chaos and drama.
There are scenes of normality, but generally the story is rather dark. This is mostly due to the scenes that reveal the protagonist's relationship with Andy, which went from bad to worse. The scenes are distressing and so is the aftermath of the devastating car accident that takes place.
This short film contains outstanding acting and a great deal of drama. It explores themes of mental health disorder, drug addiction, relationships and domestic violence.
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