Seagram

The writer-director Matthew Hornibrook along with his Co-writer Tom Lowe work with the action genre incorporating the romantic reason to construct a story where the male protagonist Seagram (Loki Pickering) takes revenge from Taylor (Connor Wheaton).

The plot of the short film revolves around Seagram a modern- day gunslinger, who sets out to find the culprits who murdered his girlfriend and avenge her.

Seagram begins with Taylor the villain narrating the story to the viewers sitting in the forest at night with fire lit around him. This is a smart move by the makers to increase the degree of audience engagement with content. The nonlinear pattern of Seagram helps the viewers interact with different characters as it moves to various subplots to add realism, relatability, and depth to this dark vengeance saga. The set design, the combination of black, white, blue, and red colours, lighting, sound, dialogues, costume, hair, makeup, and props are aptly designed to suit the genre as well as the theme of the movie. The fight sequences between York, Seagram, and Taylor are made interesting for the audience to watch by combining some of the hand combats and gunshots.

In the performance department, Loki Pickering plays the titular role. Seagram suffers from heartbreak as he has lost the love of his life and wants to fight to get justice for her. Pickering portrays the right mix of emotions like anger, tears, love, and trauma giving an insight to the audience into Seagram’s plan to take revenge on Taylor and other people involved.

Connor Wheaton plays Taylor the antagonist of the film who kills Seagram’s girlfriend for his selfish motive. The makers choosing Wheaton’s character to tell the tale provides the time for the audience to understand Taylor as well as other characters through his point of view and decide who to support in the climax. Wheaton utilises voice modulation, body language, facial expressions, and eyes as both a storyteller and a villain.

Paul Burt plays York who is in Taylor’s team. Seagram tracks down his hiding place and defeats him to find out more about the man responsible for his girlfriend’s death. Burt’s character arc is constructed appropriately with long hair, and tattoos so that the viewers can relate to York as well as the plot point.

Tony Bligh plays the role of the contact who leads Seagram first to York followed by the big fish Taylor. Though Bligh has very short screen time he helps the male protagonist fulfill his dramatic need.

Seagram talks about always making the right choices in life because wrong choices tend to lead people into trouble leaving no alternatives of coming back seeking for any positive improvements that can make one’s future better for both self as well as the loved ones. The short film reiterates the importance of trust, love, and being respectful in any relationship because there can be several reasons to give up on each other but finding the strength within to stand by the person one is in love with no matter what the situation proves to be the real strength.