Indebted

The short begins with a blue collar man coming home to find countless bills and collection notices. Obviously his life is a total mess. It gets worse when he calls a lady and you then find out that he's way behind in his child support and he hasn't been much of a father. Despite this, you still are able to find something about this guy to care about thanks to excellent film work.

This short is from the Moviemark DVD Indie Shorts Project Vol. 1 (2006). Of the shorts on the DVD, this is probably the best. Now this isn't to say it was great, as the story was awfully simple--perhaps too simple. On the other hand, I really have to hand it to the director and actors (particularly the lead) as they really, really did emotions well--making the film seem much more real and poignant than anything else on the disk. It had a real professional touch to it.

This is a short film about a man at the end of his rope, drowning in debt and cut off from his daughter.

To the film's credit, they don't attempt to sugarcoat him - his ex-wife repeatedly points out that he wants access but can't or won't pay any child support. This conversation is not very well acted, but gets the point across.

Jose Rosete, who also wrote/directed/etc. the movie, plays the lead role, and does so quite effectively, especially one particular moment which I won't spoil, which conveys shock and horror at just how low he is going in his life.

The final scenes, which remind of the light that goes along with the darkness, do not feel cloying or unwarranted. Instead, you feel cautiously hopeful, and moved, just as Ramon is moved.

Not perfect by any means, but a good, solid effort, well worth watching.