On a dock outside of the city on a bitterly cold day, a man in a suit ties his leg to a shopping cart and, looks with despair at the freezing water below as he gets ready to jump. A homeless man lying nearby tosses his prized meal, confronts the man, pointing at the cart and protesting "That's six years of my life! You can't just take it!" As they haggle over a price for the business man to keep the cart, the story of why each is on the docks that day slowly begins to unfold, each having made a life or death choice after suffering a major loss. Their unexpected meeting brings a chain of events that causes those choices to unravel and be challenged, requiring the characters to show themselves to be the people they really are.
"BitterSweet Life" is a wonderful, different kind of short with its storytelling rooted in humanity. Ryan Kwon, the film's writer and director, has succeeded in telling a story that is, as the title suggests, bittersweet and touching with some very real and amusing moments. William Beckwith (the homeless guy) and Todd Lewis (the business man) play off each other beautifully, with William Beckwith subtly inviting you to keep an eye on him in every scene he's in. The understanding the two men slowly come to is nicely laid out and is heartwarming and hopeful without being overdone.
If you haven't seen it yet, treat yourself and watch this really special little movie.
