Pawn

A teenager resorts to online socialising in order to escape his unstable relationship with his mother.

Danny (Koronkiewicz) is a seventeen-year-old youth who lives with his mother (Kyriacou). Unfortunately, things are not good. His mum has a drinking problem and often lashes out at him. Danny has a passion for online chess and regularly participates in matches and socialises with other players, apparently looking for some comfort. Now, he has met fellow chess enthusiast Lily (Grewal) and the two of them build a rapport, spending a lot of time together playing and socialising.

This short drama seems to point out the possibilities of joy that the Internet has to offer and (on a negative note) it also shows that spending time online can also create a distance between people. Via his laptop, Danny is able to free himself (most of the time at least) from the harsh environment he is living in, socialising and joking with Lily, however he ignores his mother and appears to have given up on her. His relationship with her is going downhill, so he opens a door to a new world, one that brings him happiness and with that, he choses to forget about the trouble at home as he believes that there is no point in trying.

The screenplay explores to a significant length the impact that technology has in people's lives today, particularly how it changes their lives. The majority of the narrative involves Danny interacting with his laptop, exchanging text messages with Lily. By just using his computer, he meets someone and alters the course of his life.

Since the interactions between Danny and Lily take place via text messages, they are visualised as text bubbles and there are many throughout and praise should go to the creativity that was involved in order to create this.

Regarding the soundtrack, the songs Cocktail Club by Paddy Conn and Stately Home by Philip Sheppard certainly add value to the film, the former being utilised for uplifting purposes and the latter for drama.

This student project is a story that revolves around two things: a family relationship that has hit a brick wall and the beginning of a romance. Ultimately, the film seems to be carrying the message that sometimes people seek ways to escape from their problems and by doing so they might completely lose every motivation to deal with the issues that they left aside.