No More Inner Voice

A short film about a young boy Nathan (André LeMire) working in a local store for a horrible boss (Rob Lundholm) to save money to help his sick grandfather (Robin Bargo) whose savings are taken by his brother (Isaac Aderman). Nathan then ends up grappling with his inner voice to decide how he is going to get more money quickly in order to buy the medical equipment his grandfather needs.

Written and directed by Jozef Raiche it’s a clever depiction of life in reality versus what is going on in the inner consciousness. By combining colour with black and white cinematography he creates two separate worlds. In colour we see the world as it is and in black and white we see his inner voice being played out in conversation with a friend in the neighbourhood. Switching between serene neighbourhood landscapes to more frantic arguments we see how he and his consciousness respond to the changing circumstances.

It is nicely directed using plenty of variety of framing and movement, cutting quickly between shots to good effect. The camera follows the actor from location to location not worrying about getting a perfectly framed shot each time, which gives a dynamic feel of being there in the person's shoes, here following Nathan around his suburban neighbourhood, at his mundane job, caring for his sick grandpa and having a difficult time with his boss and brother.

For me the music doesn’t quite match as a means of building tension with an overly creepy slow organ keyboard sound more in tune with an eerie futuristic horror than a psychological drama. On the flip side the dialogue and wild tracking is clear and adds to the sense of being there with Nathan as we see him battling his reality and consciousness.

The actors put in good ordinary folk performances that manage to pull off this microcosm of a quaint neighbourhood consisting of Nathan’s boss, his grandpa, his brother and his consciousness friend. Josef Raiche himself plays Nathan’s consciousness and brings a friendly normality as the local neighbourhood Matrix like guide and the neighbourhood gives an extra feel of being inside someone’s consciousness by being unusually deserted in the shots. Nathan’s disillusionment with his inner voice is most powerful when he considers how he has got to this point, but it quickly escalates into trouble when he chooses to ignore it.

It’s a smartly put together short that explores the internal activity of the mind by trying to visually show its emotions vis à vis what is happening in reality. It would be interesting to see if it would be successful in a longer format … but you probably don’t need me to tell you that.