★★ Directed by: Alex Decourville Written by: Alex Decourville Starring: Alex Decourville, Kayleigh Williams, Joseph Pledger, Dominic Cancelliere, Erin Butusov, Becca Spivey, B. J Halsall, Peter Toomey, Sharon Allen, Maria Defranco, Rob Motoc. Film Review by: John McKeown There’s a list as long as your joke prosthetic arm of film parodies of the American High School Reunion. From National Lampoon’s Class Reunion of 1982 to Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno in 2008, this quintessentially American barometer of social and economic success has been gleefully mocked and, sometimes, lethally shredded. The same treatment has been liberally meted out to the All American Superhero in films such as Mike Binder’s Blankman and Roy Griggs’ SuperCapers, to name but two. Gamely combining the two genres Writer/Director Alex Decourville’s double send-up has the requisite Slacker ethos and the nerdy powerlessness of the misguided, embodied in its bespectacled superhero ‘Science Boy’ (Alex Decourville), but it completely fails to be funny. Parody demands a certain amount of brutality to succeed, and there are hints of that, particularly in the flashback scene to the school class display, where among the projects assembled by the students are graphic layouts on the art of masturbation and the benefits of Antifungal cream in the treatment of Thrush. On the night of the reunion itself an Award Ceremony offers no-cash prizes for categories such as Best Hair, Cutest Couple and Masturbated the Most Since High School, which are dourly amusing, particularly when the favourite-to-win Onanist loses to the female bartender of the venue, the Buzzbin Patio. While the performances mostly meet the minimum standard, Decourville seems to have deployed a real-life superpower: of scanning his script with X-Ray vision and niXing every potential laugh. There are at least two moments where he blinked. The first comes half an hour in when one reunionist is telling another, in a deadpan tone, of his predictable successes in the last decade: a wife, kids, a mortgage “and a couple of murders under my belt.” Later, Killjoy (played with some finesse by Joseph Pledger), Science Boy’s arch enemy, tells the Boy and his friends, who are completely at his mercy: “I want to put all of you out of my misery. But it occurs to me that I like having allies.” Witty rather than uproarious, but in the film’s achingly humourless aridity it lands like a teardrop. Physical comedy can be a good fall-back for a dull script but as the characters all exhibit various degrees of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, this also is in very short supply. John (B J Halsall) the proudly chronic masturbator is the liveliest of the group, for obvious reasons, and, in true National Lampoon Animal House style puts his insatiable member through its paces at a party to celebrate Science Boy’s disappearance. But watching a chubby bloke’s arse-crack jigging around while its owner drops various items of lingerie on his head has limited comic appeal. Unless John Belushi’s doing the jigging. Perhaps the film’s one redeeming feature is that it doesn’t seem to give a damn if it’s funny or not, and this attitude is consistent throughout. Not trying to be funny is of course a time-honoured method of being funny. But in filmmaking, it requires careful thought and even more careful writing. #JohnMcKeown

★★★ Directed by: #AsherLines Written by: Asher Lines Starring: #SophieSharp, #AlexisMeshida and #MartinSadd Film Review by: Bruna Foletto Lucas Written and directed by Asher Lines, Tracy follows the title character, a recent widow whose whimsical ways are merely ways of coping with the death of her husband, Sam. The dynamic created by Lines is intriguing, especially as the main character seems to be both grounded in reality but also completely away from it. Tracy’s tragic actions – visiting her husband’s grave whilst still pretending he is alive, cooking dinner for two and having two-sided conversations – are painted as comic through the film’s use of its apparatus. Tracy starts as a fun, light-hearted film, with an upbeat soundtrack contrasting with static shots from a cemetery. It soon becomes clear that the film supports Tracy’s eccentricity, and even encourages her whilst inviting us to find her behaviour amusing if not normal. Moreover, the cinematography and editing, which are fast-paced and dynamic, help to establish this diegetic normality. On the downside, the hyper accentuated diegetic and extra-diegetic sounds can be too much at times, as well as the camera movements (especially the panoramic shots during a conversation scene). It seems, perhaps, that this is the way the filmmakers have chosen to convey Tracy’s fun but insufferable ways and how the other characters perceive her chaotic life. The film, however, slows down when Tracy receives hard news. Sam’s parents announce that they will move their son’s ashes from the cemetery, putting a stop at Tracy’s made-up life and bringing her back to reality, though not without some resistance. Much like before, the cinematic elements follow Tracy’s change – the soundtrack, the pace of the film, her depiction and even her interactions with others become ‘more normal’. Her life becomes more bleak, but not completely dull or sad. She encounters a man with whom she has a conversation and the film embraces the possibility of a normal life for Tracy. Lines is creative when building the protagonist and her world, and most importantly, when deciding how to depict both of them. As mentioned, the film changes together with the protagonist and although it can be perceived as too much at times, it nevertheless helps to convey the character’s innermost feelings, as intriguing and eccentric as they are.

★★★★ Directed by: Jack Nicoletti Written by: Jack Nicoletti Starring: Evan Newton, Josh Blanchett, Micah McCord, Blake Mounts, Vinny Nicoletti Film Review by: Jason Knight A dark comedy about two teenage friends, who unwillingly get involved with drug dealers, leading to all sorts of shenanigans. Jake (Newton) and Ben (Blanchett) are two highschool friends. Almost immediately after they are hired at a local video store, their new boss Vince (McCord) instructs them to deliver a package to a local theater. They soon discover that the package actually contains illegal drugs and decide to take it to its destination. What follows is a series of misadventures, including dangerous criminals, murders, awkward confrontations and a man wearing an animal mask. Filmmaker Nicoletti managed to make this movie primarily due to support from relatives and friends. He filmed and acted in this crime comedy while in highschool and his parents had acting parts. Filming took place on location in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on an almost nonexistent budget and Newton and Blanchett got the starring roles after applying through a Craigslist advertisement. The production was rather humble but the result was worth it. The plot is interesting, the humour is amusing and the characters are wacky, particularly the criminals. The soundtrack is also great. Unsurprisingly, considering that the budget was nearly zero and the cast and crew had limited experience, there are flaws. At times the camerawork is clumsy and the audio sounds distorted. However, they are good enough to make the viewing decent. The acting is not very convincing but the cast deliver entertaining performances regardless. The narrative is nonlinear and cuts back and forth in time throughout, showing the same events, but from another character's perspective. It also provides scenes that explain how scenes seen previously came to be. What makes this movie appealing is the story: two boys happen to get themselves into deep trouble and it is enjoyable watching the bad guys pursue them. The Middle Men is a solid example that a big production budget is not essential in order to end up with a satisfactory film. #JasonKnight

★★ Written & Directed by: #DavidBradburn Starring: #MouzamMakkar, #ShannonBrown, #SuzetteBrown, #JenBuhrow, #LindaBrightClay Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Unaware of her past, Anne's friends do their best to help her get over a failed relationship. When the pressure becomes too much, Anne's repressed traumas explode in a cathartic moment where she makes a choice that is both horrific and heroic. Bradburn’s The Night Before the Morning After is a short drama that follows Anne (Mouzam Makkar), a woman who faces trauma from a previous relationship, as she is pressured into navigating a love-life once more by her eager friends. As the night continues, her emotions creep up on her and a revelation strikes with a bittersweet ending. This clunky film written and directed by Bradburn takes an interesting approach to short storytelling, in the sense that it feels like the beginnings of something bigger worth delving into, rather than a secluded story with a neat bookend. The opening spends 3 minutes introducing the location of the party, before getting to the characters; so this feels like time wasted that could have otherwise been spent on more important matters. It’s almost like the pilot of a TV show, but a very short one. By the time the characters are established, the meat of the film has around 10 minutes to explore the ideas introduced, which is a little tight but manageable, except not for The Night Before the Morning After. Struggling to find its feet practically throughout the runtime, it’s difficult to be interested in the goings on of Anne and her friends. The film holds onto some gruelling experience that embeds trauma in a person, but doesn’t really take a deeper dive into that. Even when the big turn of events comes, it isn’t exactly clear how it happened. The “why?” is quite obvious, but the “how?” is missing which leads to a fairly unsatisfying climax, if you could call it that. The performance are decent from the main and supporting cast. Makkar does a well enough job with the script she’s been dealt, and the same goes for Shannon Brown. The writing makes most of the dialogue just feel awkward and plain. The direction is slighter better; the way characters are placed in scenes is good, though it still feels as if these actors were clutched a little too tightly without much room to breathe into their characters. All around, this is a well-made film, but not a very rewarding one. With an interesting concept of repressed trauma, The Night Before the Morning After had the potential to be something more, but what we’re given is essentially a short glance at a character who has some issues. We don’t see or hear much about these issues in flashbacks, and therefore the main story at hand feels totally uninviting and paper thin. - #TaryllBaker

★★★★ Written, Directed and Animated by #ChunChunChang Film Review by Amber Jackson A lonely man on a boat has a life-altering experience astride the sea when he is confronted by the fierceness of nature. Yet, he also discovers gentleness amongst the storm. Ethereal and enigmatic in tone and execution, Aura is a beautiful short film that transports both character and viewer to another plain. Aura is Chun Chun Chang's most recent short film, having initially been produced as part of her Master's degree with the infamous film department in University of Southern California (USC). The concepts included within this film are incredibly detailed and well-envisioned, as the protagonist on the boat confronts the multi-faceted revelations of nature herself. The dreamscape feel leaves the man's journey entirely up to personal interpretation as he is transfixed by the powerful Aura, making us question what he is witness to. In Greek Mythology, 'Aura' is the goddess of the wind and Chang's film expertly captures her overpowering nature through symbolism. In particular, the spiralling water is beautifully animated in such a unique way across the screen which feels three-dimensional in its detail. Water continually rippling gives this short, constant movement that is incredibly effective, as well as revealing more about the internal motivations of Aura and the man. All of these elements, combined with the soundscape (designed by Dan Blanck), allows the film to be immersive to the audience as well as the man seduced by Aura. The music, recorded by a group of musicians, makes this few minute long film feel romantic and transformative. You cannot look away, enamoured by the sounds of the waves and the music, much like nature would want you to be. Chun Chun Chang has created a beautiful short film that captures so much mastery in just a few minutes. It can definitely be imagined as a feature-length animation, but it is definitely more mysterious and fascinating in its current form. It will be exciting to see the future of this short film and Chang's future film work. #AmberJackson #ShortFilm #Animation

★★★ Written and Directed by: #HonHoang Starring: #RaymondMa Short film review by: Brian Penn One of life’s great tragedies is that time catches up with us, and this bleak but strangely compelling film by Hon Hoang shows how distressing the sunset years can be. The man (Raymond Ma) reflects on life with only memories for comfort. He leads an increasingly solitary existence as those closest to him either leave or are simply lost to the passage of time. The man’s contemporaries are also gone and has no one to share recollections of the past. A phone call to his estranged son only finds voicemail on the other end. He records a message and tries to build bridges with reminders of the life they shared as a family. But the message abruptly ends as the voicemail’s memory is full. The first half of the film relates the man’s deepest thoughts which are heart rending and deeply moving. Relating memories of the first meeting with his wife and the impossible notion they would ever grow old; there are some thought provoking one liners that give the film added edge - who knew that forever would be over so soon? These deeply effecting truths are delivered as the man moves from a table for one in a restaurant to an empty flat. It is painful to watch because it presents an inescapable fact of life; loneliness is our greatest enemy and should be fought as we grow older. The finale descends into a bizarre karaoke session which is never satisfactorily explained. The captions don’t aid the narrative to any real extent and confuse the message that was initially well presented. It only succeeds in sending the film up; as a ragged turn completes he is greeted with isolated slow hand claps. Although difficult to complete there are more effective bows that could have been tied to the narrative. Even so it deserves some credit for the thought given to a scenario that is all too familiar.

★★★★ Directed by: #RickyStaub Written by: #RickyStaub, #DanWalser Starring: #CalebMcLaughlin, #IdrisElba, Film Review by: Emily Davison Concrete Cowboy (2021) is a Netflix coming of age drama released on the platform in early April and has received strong reviews from critics following its debut. The film follows Cole (McLaughlin), a rebellious teenager who is sent to live with his estranged father (Elba) for the summer in Philadelphia, where he finds kinship with a tight knit community of Black cowboys. Ricky Staub directs, who has previously helmed the award winning short film The Cage (2017), which writer Dan Walser also produced. The film has so far won Staub the Palm Springs International Film Festival award for Directors to Watch. This movie tells an intimate, personal character based narrative which is superbly directed, displaying beautiful cinematography suiting the modern Western setting well. There is a consistent high quality to the image with dark oranges and browns cropping up throughout the film’s intrinsic colour palette and stunning shots of the urban landscape and horses riding at dusk, making for a warm inviting watch. The film is told as a gritty slow burner, with the young lead gradually finding his sense of identity, friendships and family in the community he is dropped in by his mother. The character quite literally gets down and dirty when he is sent to clean out the stables and learns the meaning of working hard for a living and his initial reluctance at cleaning out the horses makes for an entertaining sequence. The movie offers an intriguing and refreshingly original concept for the screen with new stories to be told, due to the focus being on a Black Western community of urban cowboys, which is a little known area of America and its compelling narrative and ensemble cast of characters make for wonderful offerings. Although the film has a strong and intriguing story, it does suffer from some pacing issues and fairly predictable plotting with the coming of age screenplay. However, its rich and lived in setting and heartfelt performances from the cast of real life dwellers of the Philadelphia horse handler community and well known stars mostly make up for these limitations. Caleb McLaughlin is the standout performance; best known for his role in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (2016-), his flourishing acting abilities are on full display in this film and he delivers a nuanced, believable performance with a strong screen presence. He performs well with Idris Elba, whose reserved and silent power is embodied well, and he also has a great command for the screen. There are fantastic standout scenes between the two which are emotional and heartfelt. Kevin Mately’s wonderful score is also a highlight of the film, which presents an inspiring sound combining the Wild West and soulful textures which are uplifting as well as devastating. It is a stunning achievement from the composer and adds much gravitas to the movie. Concrete Cowboy is a strong coming of age drama with a Western twist that offers a thought-provoking look into Black American urban culture. The film has lovely direction and great performances all around; although it dips often due to its slow pace, this is still a solid movie for Netflix’s growing catalogue. #EmilyDavison Concrete Cowboys (2021) Trailer:

★★★★ Directed by: Peter Stylianou Written by: Peter Stylianou Starring: Kris Johnson, David Partridge, Terri Dwyer, Farah Ahmed, Dana Rogoz, Rebecca Calienda Film Review by: Jason Knight A child vanishes from her home one night, during a birthday party. Did someone kidnap her? Did she ran away? The disappearance of Olivia Truman makes the headlines everywhere and detectives Holloway (Johnson) and Costa (Ahmed) are investigating the case. Their findings lead them to believe that the two most possible scenarios are that Olivia's parents were responsible or the Romanian housekeeper Mariam (Rogoz) had something to do with it. Meanwhile, Holloway keeps receiving threatening texts on his phone, ordering him to walk away from the case. Tensions rise as the investigation gets deeper and deeper. This dramatic mystery thriller has one twist after the other, as the two detectives try to get to the truth. The mood is rather dark, with the plot focusing on crimes against children such as child abduction, child abuse and child trafficking. The narrative is nonlinear and keeps cutting back and forth in time, often going back to the night in question and showing events that may or may have not actually taken place, as each interviewed individual gives their own version of events. Johnson has the most interesting role. He portrays a man determined to solve the case with the main intention of getting a promotion. He is rude, selfish, inconsiderate and disrespectful. He aggressively questions people and mocks them. Ironically, although he is looking for a missing child, he ignores his own daughter and his wife. As a result, though he is working towards a noble target, it is hard to sympathize with him. Partridge and Dwyer are the wealthy couple and parents to the missing girl. They appear to be torn apart but there could be more to them than meets the eye. Rogoz is the domestic worker, who claims that the parents organized their daughter's abduction for money. Is she telling the truth? Right from the start, the film grabs the viewer's attention, opening with the discovery that Olivia has gone missing. As the story progresses, the suspense increases as the police hear the account of each suspect, including Liz, Claire's troubled sister and attempt to find out who the culprit is. The Lost is a gloomy thriller that addresses very serious issues. With good acting, an atmospheric score and an intriguing plot, it is well worth viewing. #JasonKnight

★★★ Directed by: Kiea Houseton Written by: Kiea Houseton Starring: Harmony Elise Jones, Nahlia Tindal, Rachel Cornille, Julio Jimenez Film Review by: Vikas Yadav Kiea Houseton’s Daisy’s Oracle packs, wears and references itself with flowers. The name of the main character is Daisy (Harmony Elise Jones). Two other characters are named Violet (Nahlia Tindal) and Rose (Rachel Cornille). Also, Daisy literally uses flowers to arrive at a decision. Furthermore, the neighbor (Julio Jimenez) has plenty of flowers standing proudly outside his front door. Alternate title - or subtitle - for this film: Flowers Flowers Everywhere. These bright-colored, pleasant-looking plants have been used as an expression of love since time immemorial. And while that’s common knowledge, let’s not forget how it helped some lovers in their decision-making process. When Daisy shows the love letter sent from a crush, her friends advise her to seek the counsel of a flower. Her first reaction is that of asking Siri how the flowers can help her. If Daisy were a teenager, she would have also hit the Internet to read articles on romance and first love. But she is a kid now, innocent and pure. A quick search will tell you that Daisies, the flower, symbolize innocence and purity. A fitting name for this character, don’t you think? To those unfamiliar, there is a practice in which the petals of a flower are plucked apart one by one, with each iteration alternating between “he loves me” and “he loves me not.” Daisy does this twice before arriving at her resolution. For kids, their friends and classmates double up as a counselor. We blindly put trust in them without checking for the authenticity behind their solutions. Daisy, without a trace of doubt, accepts that whatever be the outcome of the “flower-plucking” activity, it would be a hundred percent correct judgment. She doesn’t even bother talking to her crush to find out what he really is like. It’s funny how children completely have faith in each other. They do not mean to deceive like adults or entertain misdirection. Daisy’s friends advise her to seek the help of the flower because they too believe in that particular notion. Playful music accompanies Daisy throughout the short. The music is appended with equally active editing that dances beside the beats. If you decide to watch Daisy’s Oracle, don’t enter it just to see her final decision. Instead, try to enjoy its childhood innocence.

★★★★ Director: #AlexandreRichards Music written and performed by: #MadaMada Starring: #CharlesAlexisDesgagnés Music video review by David Richards The music video for Montreal artist Mada Mada’s ‘Autonome’ is presented to us as a compelling short film combining the art of music and film with the likes of contemporary dance. Alexandre Richards brings a fresh take on a performance-based film by driving plot through emotion and expressionism. The plot follows a young man writing of a boat astray at sea. The writer finds himself confronting what all writers come to hate, writers block. Through what seems like frustration and anguish, the writer begins to express his ill-feeling through the twisting and stretching of his body as though possessed by the words that haunt him. The narrative, although simple, manages to capture the interest of the audience by investing heavily into the conveying of the protagonist’s emotional journey rather than the story he is writing. This plays to the films advantage by leaving the limelight on the music and the performance carrying the film. The choreography and performance from Desgagnés is riveting and outstanding in every manor of the word. The fluid and erratic motion of his body sends a shiver down the spine by introducing movements, which I for one, never knew could be carried out by anyone. Although other elements of filmmaking certainly enhanced this, it shows a complete coherence between performer and filmmaker. Regardless of choreography, Charles’ acting within the opening and ending scenes are also strong. The cinematography is excellent in capturing the performance in tracking Desgagné’s flowing movement as well as the perfect tracking sequences prior. The colour scale of grey’s, blues and greens truthfully represent the tone of mood and emotion displayed. The gentle yet significant lighting drifting through the adjacent windows are executed well adding an underlining glimpse of hope to the plot. The importance of editing is ever more present in this piece adding pace and emphases in complementing the dance routine. Director Alexandre Richards uses a rapid cutting technique to ramp up emotion after first introducing the characters and setting using time to add a real sense of calm and atmosphere. In addition, The VFX raindrop works a treat in triggering the second act involving rainfall. Kristopher Laflamme’s simplistic sound design is vital to this piece adding a chilling note of bones creaking, flesh stretching and contact between body and floor. If anyone says a music video doesn’t need a strong sound design is wrong. ‘Autonome’s’ sound design is key in adding a real sense of horror and torture to the protagonist’s mental well-being. Not to mention the fact that Mada Mada’s soundtrack doesn’t begin until nearly two minutes into the five-minute film. Overall, ‘Autonome’ is a very respectable piece offering strong emotion through the means of a simplistic plot achieved through the excellent craftmanship of filmmaking and choreography. As always, despite the high rating I must mention the few discrepancies which were not to my taste. Firstly, although the added information of location reveals the artist Mada Mada’s place of origin, it adds nothing to the plot, especially the included timestamp of ‘1954’. This is represented consistently by the production design but ultimately adds nothing to the film itself. Secondly, one of the last shots in being the back of an individual’s head is captured beautifully and yet also adds nothing to plot. If anything, it takes away from the climax making it confusing as to why the filmmakers decided to add another mystery character at the very end of the film. Despite this, I loved viewing this music video and would do so over and over again.

★ Directed by: #RodrigoPreissMaya Written by: #RodrigoPreissMaya Starring: #ShawnWilliams, #GerryConway Film Review by: Isabelle Ryan Stray Katana is an infuriating film. The short animation takes inspiration from Japanese history and art, but writer-director Rodrigo Preiss Maya seems to have little to no understanding of or respect for the culture, preferring instead to use it as a backdrop for his film's message. He is drawn to the aesthetics, but has no concept of their significance; they look good (or ‘cool’ as one reviewer puts it), so he uses them. These blatant failures of research and respect are many and often, beginning almost immediately with a mispronunciation of ‘Edo’, the city where the film is set. This, however, is the least of its problems. In 1615, an unnamed rōnin – a samurai without a master – is visited by a shadowy, intimidating presence. The next day, a stranger appears at the gate and asks for some water. The rōnin invites him in, and comes to realise that this man is Jesus. At first shocked and confused, he soon decides to follow Him wherever He leads, and attempts to complete a spiritual quest. The first question that must be answered is: why? Firstly, why does this need to be set in Japan in the Edo period? Other than the aesthetics, there is nothing that sets this version of a familiar story apart – not to mention that the probability of a rōnin already being Christian, which despite the narrative progression seems to be the implication (he is already aware of and seems to believe in God), was incredibly small. Why did Preiss Maya want to tell this story in particular? This rōnin, disgraced and purposeless, can apparently only absolve himself through Christ, depicted here as a white man with long brown hair; the film is at least consistent in its historical indifference. What is being suggested here? It seems borderline offensive to imply that their own diverse spiritual beliefs were lesser, and that true peace – represented of course by a dove – could only be found in Christianity. The animation itself leaves much to be desired. It attempts to mimic ink wash painting, or sumi-e, which on top of everything else feels like just another insult. Instead of being liquid and fluid, there is stiffness; in one scene, an open door is suddenly closed, with no frames to show the movement. There are also moments that invoke iconic Japanese imagery: geisha, Mount Fuji, and a predictable nod to Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’. Again, this feels like the work of people who greatly admire the aesthetics of a culture they refuse to explore or understand in any real depth. Aside from the Japanese voice actor (Kaz Kikui, who performs all three voice roles in the Japanese version), there appear to be no other Japanese people involved, and it shows. Tellingly, in the list of people who inspired the film that appears in the credits, the only Japanese name is Hokusai's. This wilful ignorance on behalf of the filmmakers bleeds across the entire film. On top of all this, Stray Katana is simply unoriginal. Stories of sad, broken men visited by a stranger who turns out to be God, or more specifically Jesus, have been told many times before, and much more effectively than this. The problem here is that transplanting this familiar narrative on to a rōnin in the Edo period seems to suggest that these particular broken men would have been much better off as Christians, which makes the film feel like propaganda more than anything else. Hiding the message behind a cool samurai aesthetic is more than a little insidious.

★★★★★ Stars Directed by: #TravonFree, #MartinDesmondRoe Starring: #JoeyBada$$, #AndrewHoward, #ZariaSimone Film Review by: Alicia Moore Two Distant Strangers follows Carter (Joey Bada$$) as he repeatedly attempts to travel back home to his loving dog; each attempt leading him to a fatal encounter with an officer that then resets the day over. His only choice after waking up where he had been previously is to walk straight into the same situation once more. Determined to beat this cycle of pain, Carter follows the current as he tries to uncover the key to finally arriving safely home. As we join together around the globe in a wave of movements to bring people of colour power, justice, freedom and a sense of healing, Two Distant Strangers is a short film that tightly holds hands with the many who are doing the same and raising their voices. These movements, like Black Lives Matter, are not a trend in the media as some individuals have disgustingly treated it to be – lives are threatened day by day, and lives are lost in these numbers too. This rightfully Oscar-nominated short presents incredibly impactful visuals paired with impressive, weighted writing (Travon Free) which paints the mind in permanent ink. This film leaves a mark on its viewer, and that is exactly what is needed from a visual source in the climate we are currently in. The base concept of being ‘stuck in a loop of time’ powerfully mirrors that of real life events; there is no doubt that one could state that being faced with terrifying white supremacy and acts of hate crimes at every turn is simply a loop. History is being repeated — not only decades of history but also the history of each passing week. Reports of deaths arise too often… a gut wrenching loop. I want to say thank you to writer Travon Free for such an emotionally stimulating concept. I was excited to see Joey Bada$$ in this role and he didn’t disappoint (as expected.) He gives a spectacular performance from start to finish. Out of all the cinematic elements that band together to bring tears to my eyes, I found that the acting was the final push to let the tears flow. I would imagine that bringing the character Carter to life must have come with certain hurdles to jump over in order to fully make the character’s place in the story hard hitting. The story is timely and heartbreaking in itself, but his outpour of personal reaction and feeling provides the audience with a true connection to Carter. An extreme amount of empathy is drawn from this, giving the film an extra branch of significance. Although the cinematography (Jessica Young) doesn’t delve into any groundbreaking techniques, that wasn’t a necessary goal to achieve anyway. Jessica Young and directors, Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, pair together to allow the camera to follow the intensity of the movements and physical strikes in each scene, as well as beautifully strengthening the message the story is forming throughout. It leaves me speechless seeing that cinematography like this can have that much of an influence on the film as a whole, but the work on Two Distant Strangers feels quite ‘next level’ in this regard: as if I haven’t been able to regain the ability again as of yet. I don’t only highly recommend that you watch Two Distant Strangers, nor am I just asking you to do so, I’m really telling you to make time for this short film. It is an exceedingly important watch for all. I’m also very glad that I can say it is widely accessible right now through Netflix.