Albion

A gunslinger is hired to track down a murderous fiend in the countryside.

A bounty hunter (Hollis) is assigned to pursue a dangerous killer who leaves black feathers at the murder scenes. The timeline appears to be the nineteenth century and the hero is armed with a pistol. This seems like the plot of a Western. However, the story does not take place in the United States, the setting is Britain, so this could be classified as a different sort of Western, one that contains many elements of that genre, but a different location (in this case, a different country).

Regarding the plot, it does a great job in building suspense and with a rather serious and dark atmosphere, it takes the viewer on a journey involving murder and self-reflection. It begins with the gunslinger being briefed on his mission by a sheriff (Ellis), informing him that the target is hiding in a forest. The hero proceeds by himself, dressed in black and having cowboy hat, quietly and carefully traveling through the area, encountering a slip knot, structures filled with chopped wood and a dead body, another victim or the hunted one. A significant part of the narrative is speech-free, with the hero investigating, tracking down the killer and when the two of them meet during the night, the encounter turns into a tense situation with a difficult decision to be made.

The characters are unamed, which makes the plot feel mysterious. The main character comes across as a loner, a serious man who is experienced in pusuing bounties and engaging in violent confrontations. The person he is after (played by Adams) is an individual who has been forced to resort to violence in order to survive and Adams manages to make her character simultaneously menacing and vulnerable.

The mise-en-scene effectively brings the story back in time, especially due to the period clothing, a fantastic contribution of costume designer Akaibi Vine.

Visually, the film looks wonderful, with Bates creating many impressive and beautiful shots of landscapes and trees, which look even better thanks to Edward Hamilton Stubber's stunning cinematography.

The audio is another area where this short thrives, with a mysterious, atmospheric and sinister score by Theodore Sandberg and the sound effects also deserve credit, particularly during the part where ominous whispering is heard.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of this film is the dark atmosphere, with a heavy feeling of dread, the intriguing plot being a close second. It is a brutal story that follows conventions of the Western genre and it is terrifically acted and superbly directed.