A shared experience

The pink and white colour used for the title of the film has connotations of innocence, love, kindness, and femininity. The writer-director Tianna Banton works towards telling female-oriented stories about a sensitive topic like Sexual harassment. The white and grey colour palette and lighting of the film complement the theme of the creative piece beautifully.

The plot of the movie revolves around a group of women opening up about their ordeal related to sexual harassment. These women also vent out their anger and frustration on how these crucial issues are being treated as normal in a support group set-up.

The set design and the upbeat music help establish the film and the audience also starts to feel relatable to the film as the camera tracks the location where the story unfolds. The use of flashbacks, extreme close-up shots, and a shaky camera showcases the agony the victim has to go through with such unwanted experiences. The voice modulation used gets the viewers emotionally connected to the film. The costume designer, makeup artist along with the hair department have done a brilliant job to depict the changes in the lifestyle of these women as the story moves forward.

In terms of performance, Miranda played by Jennifer Kingston is a strong woman who decides to keep her tormented past aside and set-up a support group for those who are reluctant to talk about their experiences with sexual harassment. Dani Raza and Ricky Senior are men who abuse Josie and Angela respectively in the storyline. Both the actors have picked up the body language of their characters so well. The audience tends to get scared of the dominance. These two male characters are very well written and reflect the realism in the narrative. The storyline of the film highlights the importance of standing up to misdeeds of these victimizers.

A shared experience talks about the need to have a conversation about both physical and mental exploitation. All men should understand their social responsibility towards women and make the ladies feel safe around them. The cinematic piece also gives a strong message that solidarity among women can be a good initial step in the fight against social evil like offensive sexual advances. Mutual consent is a very crucial element for any kind of relationship to prosper between two individuals.

The short film has an open-ended closure giving its target audience a lot of opportunities to interpret the film as per their understanding. The inclusion of the survey reports at the end of the movie attempts to give the viewers a reality check and forces them to work towards the change that is necessary for the betterment of the community. I liked the choice of the title of the film- A shared experience by Tianna Banton. The use of this name gives a sense of ease, comfort and courage to the viewers watching the movie to be able to condemn the crimes committed against ladies.