alexjames96
- Jul 5, 2020
- 2 min read

Role of a Lifetime

★★★

Starring: #LarenaDanielle, #RainDoveDubilewski, #CoryHindorff, #ElysseWinn, #SteveWolf

Amber is an upcoming actress who has just been offered an Oscar nomination for her recent work. As she celebrates her successes with girlfriend Liz and a surprise brunch, an unexpected guest arrives. However, all is not as it seems as this surprise entry forces Amber to battle her past demons…and for her life.

This short firm by Ashlei Hardenburg is filled with excitement with an extremely detailed storyline and well developed characters. Each person within this short had a story, a history to them which made for a very pleasing viewing experience. The audience can become emotionally invested within each character, the action becomes real. This is very much the case for the character Jade, she became the climactic twist we all needed. Her menacing demeanour and villain like presence really became the driving force for the scene. It was interesting watching the story unfold between the two characters, Amber and her sister Jade. It was clear that there was a strong sibling rivalry between the two. This was represented well and gave a huge insight into their relationship; fraught, jealous and competitive.

For a short film, it had a very detailed storyline. There was a lot of information for the audience to take on and it can be difficult to digest everything in such a small space of time. However, this seemed to not be the case in ‘Role of a Lifetime.’ It was effortlessly achieved and in fact made the piece watchable because of the different characters and full storyline.

There were a few focusing issues here and there but this was miniscule in comparison to the entirety of the production, the majority of the camera work was solid. It would have been great to see the inclusion of more diverse camera angles. A scene in particular would be between the two characters, Jade and Amber having a conversation at the dining table catching up after being apart for such a significant amount of time. It was difficult to stay focused on what the characters were actually discussing because the audience eventually become indifferent to their conversion. Mainly because of the same shots being used throughout. When dealing with quite serious or emotional moments, close ups and zooming into the characters expressions are really key. This allows the audience to not only remain invested in the dialogue but also witness the emotions of the characters themselves.

This is an exciting film to try, a well thought out storyline and an interesting twist. It was great to see characters that had a lot of depth to them, it led the audience to either fear them or love them but either way Ashlei Hardenburg has created an atmosphere in which the audience are invested in one form or another.