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Directed by Stanislava Buevich
Starring Joanna Kate Rodgers, Faye Sewell, Nitin Ranpuria, James Arthur Daniels
Short Film Review by Rachel Pullen
We have all been there, stuck in a workspace with a co worker who is so annoying that you would do anything to get rid of them, but would that anything be murder?
Well that of course depends on your anger levels as well as your self control, all of which stop the vast majority of the general public from stabbing anyone who cuts them up in traffic, jumps a queue or just lacks general manners, god knows I have wanted to on many past occasions.
Stanislava Buevich’s short piece Self-Control is a study of that, we follow Lilly [played by Joanna Kate Rodgers] who has unfortunately found herself as the friend of an annoying co worker, [played by Faye Sewell] and has to work hard to resist the over whelming desire she has to murder her.
Buevich uses a comedic approach on many levels in this film, the annoying actions of Lily’s co worker can only be described as laughable as can the murderous desires of Lily, be it from strangulation to poison, all of which are acted out in our leading lady's day dreams.
What’s not laughable is the performances from all the cast in this short, all of which are cast brilliantly, bringing their own spin to this black comedy, this is especially apparent in the number of scenes we see between Rodgers and Nitin Ranpuria, as she desperately tries to get him to take her desire to kill seriously as he sips brightly-coloured milkshakes in a childlike fashion.
Buevich’s real credit though is the interesting use of angels and shot set ups; we see an abundance of wide shots, allowing for a lot of headroom, visual background noise and shadow play, lighting our lead role’s face often from below to enhance her demon-like tendencies throughout the comedic scenes.
Self-Control screams of that classic style of horror that has been missing from the genre since the success of ..well Scream, a black comedy with charm and style, with relatable and intelligent characters who not only have a level of realism to them but who can make the audience feel right there with them as they battle their demons.
Self-Control dishes up laughs, suspense and an ending that will have you asking more questions than you started off with.
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