Are the owls what they seem?
Good job! I just saw this yesterday, at Bloomington's Dark Carnival film festival, for which it won Best Screen writing.
This is a character-driven film, which is unusual for a short, but it works because we either know these people or have been these people at one point or another in our lives. Most of this short feature is taken up by an argument that occurs during a late-night car trip down a winding road, a stupid argument sparked by an insignificant event--or, rather, an event that would have been insignificant had they left it alone. The argument quickly escalates, exposing how damaged this couple has become in their relationship. There is a moment when we are poised for them to turn back from what they're doing to each other, and themselves . . . and I, for one, was wishing rather hopelessly that they would.
I guessed at the ending (possibly because it was tangentially reminiscent of a horror short I read decades ago, although I doubt that the short-story writer or the screenwriter ever did). Nevertheless, I thought the action of the final scene was communicated cleverly and well.
The film is very well acted (the actors got separate applause in our theatre at the end), and it is also well shot, edited, and directed. It is no easy thing to make an effective horror film that is mostly talk, even if it's a short, and my hat is off to all involved.
This is a character-driven film, which is unusual for a short, but it works because we either know these people or have been these people at one point or another in our lives. Most of this short feature is taken up by an argument that occurs during a late-night car trip down a winding road, a stupid argument sparked by an insignificant event--or, rather, an event that would have been insignificant had they left it alone. The argument quickly escalates, exposing how damaged this couple has become in their relationship. There is a moment when we are poised for them to turn back from what they're doing to each other, and themselves . . . and I, for one, was wishing rather hopelessly that they would.
I guessed at the ending (possibly because it was tangentially reminiscent of a horror short I read decades ago, although I doubt that the short-story writer or the screenwriter ever did). Nevertheless, I thought the action of the final scene was communicated cleverly and well.
The film is very well acted (the actors got separate applause in our theatre at the end), and it is also well shot, edited, and directed. It is no easy thing to make an effective horror film that is mostly talk, even if it's a short, and my hat is off to all involved.
- Bou
- 3 oct 2009