With a brief running time of five minutes, Eric Gerber doesn't waist any time or give us any unnecessary fat in his storytelling approach. Which is a relief. As a film festival director I see hundreds of short films a year, and many of them have issues with length. A seven minute film could be better told in five minutes, or a twenty minute film in twelve minutes. This is a common problem. Filmmakers wanting to pad or stretch out material and feed their own need in giving you more.
I've also had the privilege of seeing Eric grow as a filmmaker, to see him fully understand the art of storytelling. What most first time filmmakers fail to understand is that the director holds all the cards. He can choose when to divulge the information he sees fit, to get the maximum impact.
Eric understands this and I think this is one of his best films. It was my favorite film at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival this past year. And I was not alone, Bai Ling who was there as my guest saw this film during the opening night event, and saw it again during the closing night Juried films. She came to me to contact the filmmaker so she could express to him how much she loved this film, and also expressed a desire to help champion this fine film.
Kudos to Eric Gerber. I'm sure he'll go far.
