Parasocial

The writer-director Joseph Jeavons and his Co-writers Owen Swift and Bala Brown combine the crime, and comedy genres to showcase Parasocial relationships and how adversely they can affect in the long run. Joseph Jeavons (Ricky) and Sam Teague (Dylan) as well as the supporting cast assist the makers to build an intriguing narrative therefore increasing the audience engagement with the short film.

The plot of Parasocial revolves around Ricky who begins to idolize his roommate, Dylan, an amateur criminal operating an illegal horse meat exchange. After getting heat from the police Dylan decides to lay low and trick Ricky into his dirty work. The two struggle to make sense of things as two police officers infiltrate their daily lives and their apartment becomes ground zero for an undercover investigation.

Parasocial begins with a long shot of police sirens beeping with the lights flashing giving out the details of the crime scene followed by being introduced to a suspicious act of crime and then two detectives discussing the best course of action to solve the problem at hand. The short film follows a nonlinear path, the markers utilise text (written message) to indicate the time-lapse to make it interesting for the viewers to be hooked to the movie. The creative team creates small snippets of dialogue for each character to illustrate their perspective to add the comic element to the storyline. The set design, camera angles, colour pallet, lighting, sound, dialogues, costume, hair, makeup, and props elevate the subject matter with each subplot and also add realism to the content.

In terms of performance, Joseph Jeavons plays Ricky who is happy-go-lucky and innocent person who is searching for true friendship but he goes on to fall prey to a bigger problem because of this tiny expectation from people around. Joseph Jeavons manages to maintain the upbeat mood of Parasocial beautifully utilising perfect comic timing while addressing how Dylan is behaving with Ricky but the latter is completely unaware of the same. This makes the audience get emotionally attached to him.

Sam Teague plays the role of Dylan who is a criminal involved in an illegal horse meat trade does not value friends or any other relationships in life and just wants to earn money by using people who care about him in life. Teague young talented actor depicts the multi-layered persona of Dylan. Sam Teague with his body language, voice modulation, facial expressions, and eyes strikes the balance between showcasing the friendliness as well as the grey shade in his character arc as per the demand of the script.

Parasocial highlights the need to be careful while searching for true friendships and also about people you give importance to in life because there can be many friends who can prove detrimental to one’s well-being in the long run. The short film reiterates that getting involved in criminal/illegal activity of any sort always will get one in trouble sooner or later so be on the right path and enjoy a peaceful life. The cinematic piece tells the audience that one should be faithful to their duty no matter what the situation is.