Quiet Life

Bafta winning 11 minute short film Quiet life is a comedy directed by Ruth Pickett, Written by Alex Bruce and Luke Rollason who also stars as our protagonist Geoffrey. Who you may recognise from the show Extraordinary. Quiet Life shows the impact of social media and our phones being attached slowly becoming a part of us. But also how helpful our phones are and how we would be quite lost without them in certain situations.

Quiet life opens with our main protagonist proposing, when unfortunately things turn sour leading to him being humiliated in a public space. Hit with devastating rejection he soon finds himself becoming the laughing stock of the Internet. All those surrounding him are videoing and uploading it straight to social media. Retreating back into himself wanting a so called quiet life without the need for his phone or any outside communication. Geoffrey begins to embrace his inner weirdo which leads to chaotic events. When he soon realises the impact of his choices to have a quiet life.

The performances were eye catching, strong and established for just a short span you get to spend with them. You are glued the whole time. With our protagonist who doesn't utter a word along with other characters' dialogue being very minimalistic. You still understand every emotion he feels what his thoughts and reactions are. Which is a total credit to the actor Luke as it's a very difficult job to do. He has such an expressive face adding to the slapstick of it all. I think a lot of viewers can personally sympathise and relate to Geoffrey. I would relate Luke's performance to that of Rowan Atkinson in Mr Bean where he doesn't have to say a word to make the audience laugh.

Quiet life never feels boring, it feels vibrant and entertaining. The sets designs and lighting were filled with colour, the way the world changes around how our protagonist is so striking. At times it feels so whimsical when it almost turns into a fairytale in itself. With the world building around it only enhances the absurdness. Also with an original score by Tom Penn it makes you understand the tones and when they shift. It's so clever how it's all put together hand in hand to guide the audience through Luke's emotions. The editing was smooth with interesting uses of camera angles and different shots. Showing just how established the filmmakers are in their craft.

For me Quiet Life is a unique tale that reads as a piece on how much damage we do to ourselves when being on our phones constantly. But with a comedic twist without taking the tone too seriously whilst also having a powerful message. We need to learn that we need balance, understanding when it is time to put the phones down and come back to reality. But also how beneficial phones have been to us,how we communicate with each other and meet new people. With such a relatable subject to the audience Quite Life is a 11 minute short well worth watching.