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★★★
Directed by: #MaziyarKhatam
Written by: #MaziyarKhatam
Starring: #MaziyarKhatam & #DylanRayHatton
Written and directed by Maziyar Khatam this short film is a humorous sketch played out on the sidewalk of a Toronto street where two people bump into each other and end up having a ridiculous verbal confrontation.
It starts as we hear a guy talking on the phone with a strong Canadian accent, having a somewhat profane Tarrintinoesque exchange over the phone, off camera. The first frame then reveals a street corner and the quite innocuous coming together of two guys as they bump into each other. One of the guys demands an apology, telling the other to be careful and there then ensues an uncomfortable confrontation between them as they slip into some verbal jousting full of chest puffing attitude and jibing street slang that threatens to boil over into something else.
Maziyar Khatam plays one of the actors alongside Dylan Ray Hatton and the two guys have good chemistry together despite the confrontational situation as they switch between being the aggressive alpha male and the more submissive one. Like a school yard fracas, they exchange verbal insults, with one having the more physically intimidating edge over the other.
The camera stays fixed throughout from across the street giving an eyewitness account of the altercation from a safe distance and with the background noise there is a cacophony of quite excellent street sounds bringing a vibrancy to a quite ordinary but colourful street setting. A steady stream of passing traffic continually breaks up the shot along with groups of passers-by which captures the energy of the hustle and bustle of a neighbourhood street and effortlessly immerses the audience into this awkward street standoff.
Captured on a sunny day it’s an everyday kind of situation where something as simple as bumping into someone can easily get overheated when one or the other fails to show the other any manners. They play out the kind of youthful exchange that could happen anywhere and here in Toronto we get the energy from the accents and street slang as the two guys indulge each other with some petty insults that would be common in a heated mic battle. There is some awkward tension building as to what will happen next as the intensity fluctuates with the levels of aggression.
The short is quite unusual in giving just one camera angle as an observation point and the dialogue zips along using some slightly choice language and despite the aggressive outpourings maintains a lighthearted air. It packs in plenty of mixed up youthful cussing to enjoy that will amuse a young audience.
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