Synopsis: Brian (Peter Mastne) is visited by his brother, Jeremy (Rich Holton), who needs a place to stay as he settles into his new city. The two polar opposite personalities begin to clash as Jeremy's presence poses a threat to Brian's way of life.
Review:
Since that synopsis does a great job at recapping the story, I wanted to start off with it. This is a two person show that is confined to this apartment. That adds an element here as being claustrophobic. I'd bet part of that is budgetary, but to be honest, it makes this work better. Even more so with a reveal near the end of this short film. It also is unrelenting. It doesn't waste any time where we see Brian being hard on his brother with setting the ground rules. There's also an interesting element where we never see them getting along. The closest is earlier on, they're watching something together, but Brian goes to bed. The fight then starts.
Something interesting here with the storytelling is that we get a few seconds of Brian tidying up before Jeremy arrives. I thought that was an interesting way to show how neurotic Brian is and then we jump right into these two living together. There are then clues along the way that everything we've heard might not be true. The other element there is not everything is as it seems. There's a montage of Brian accusing Jeremy of different things. When we finally see the truth, it makes these things even more odd since Jeremy denies them throughout.
What makes this work though is the acting performances. Mastne does a great job as seeming like this brother who is doing something nice. He has strict rules, comes off as a 'clean freak' and constantly nags Jeremy. It makes him the 'villain'. That is until we see where things end up. Holton on the other hand seems more jovial and carefree. It is the constant being berated that he has a character shift. What is good here is that by the end, my thoughts on both shift to where they're gray characters. That makes this work for sure.
Let's then discuss filmmaking. First, my disclaimer on how I judge short films is if they tell a complete story or do I need to be more fleshed out. There isn't a right or a wrong way here. I do think this tells a complete story and doesn't need more to be added. There are a couple things that were ambiguous to me and I could have just missed something. That adds to my intrigue though. I thought that the cinematography and framing were good. This becomes an assault on the senses near the end. The editing was good. This flew by and I was hooked to see where it would go. I also thought that the sound track fit what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a solid short film that I thought packed a punch. It has an interesting set up. We think we know these two characters and how things develop shift our perspective on them. The acting helps to bring them to life, so credit to Mastne and Holton. We have a contained setting that works. It builds a claustrophobic atmosphere that is good. The cinematography and framing capture that. This is one that I'd recommend checking out for sure, wherever you find short films.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
