North Nights Short Film Review

★★★

Directed by: #Shayaan

Starring: #RoryWaltonSmith, #FrankieKenno, #OmarEmfour, #HarryKenno, #EthanBeer

Short Film Review by: Alexandra James

North Nights is a short film packed with drugs, fast cash, violence and even car chases. A lot was crammed into this short film, it was engaging, action packed and a lot of heightened tension which made for a very dramatic and impactful film. It’s great to see a lot of diverse shots being used and great use of location and scenery which really elevated this film.

The film begins with characters Aiden and Jamal, who have been given a huge bag of drugs to shift around their area for their boss. The dark shots and mysterious alley ways and shifty customers establishes this piece as a gritty crime short. It was interesting to see the effects used within this film, it was jarring in places and added another layer to this piece. Its always good to see a wide use of editing techniques and this short reaches into the more unique editing styles which is always a positive, as director Shayaan has managed to display a whole range of skills which is important when searching for your own flare or style to film making.

North Nights was edgy and raised a lot of issues which are prominent within society. The heavy drug use which surrounds our youth today is dangerous and can lead to some extremely dark paths. This is clearly portrayed within this short and highlights the fact that there are no winners once you become involved in this game. To really cement this message into the film it would have been beneficial to have the acting be more convincing, this was lacking a lot within the short. The actors seemed nervous in places, and it was hard to envision some of the characters as big gang leaders because that confidence and aggression was just not there to sell that image. When playing thugs or ‘boss’ type personas, there needs to be that level of maturity and toughness to the role in order to convey to the audience that this character is not to be messed with, unfortunately, this was not the case. The storyline was also confusing in a lot of places, there were many characters and the storyline intertwined with others which made it difficult to digest. Especially because the characters had masks on throughout, so it was hard to recognise who was who. A more streamlined story would have been much more satisfactory and allowed the audience to really connect with characters as there would have been a better flow.

These improvements come with experience and Shayaan has the basic foundations and skills to produce more cinematic content and iron out these types of issues. However, this is a great contribution to short films, and it will be fantastic to see more.