Nightwalking

Nightwalking is a film of about 2 minutes duration and it has some interesting and universal points to make. I don't think that there is anyone who hasn't had some trepidation about being in a deserted place and then having said trepidation multiply exponentially when you realize there is someone else on the street and what could that person's intentions be?

Those vibrations are also felt by the other party and if you are completely innocent one doesn't like the idea of someone else thinking you have evil on your mind.

No dialog comes from the mouths of the two players. But we do here their thoughts cross-cutting in narration. An interesting bit of psychological probing on film.

With a running time of three minutes, Nightwalking is barely longer than some television commercials yet it manages to do what it sets out to do in the perfect amount of time for the story being told. From the opening shots, one might get the impression that Nighwalking is a horror short and indeed director Daniel Cormack and cinematographer Sam Osborne make these shots so atmospheric and delightfully creepy that some may be disappointed that the short doesn't continue down the horror path. What follows instead is a wickedly funny, darkly comic situation that any one who has ever walked along a dimly lit street at night can relate to. Had the short gone on too long, the scenario could have become a bit over-the-top and lost some of its effectiveness. As it is, Nightwalking is well worth checking out more than once and a great time-killer for anyone who has a few minutes to spare. 9/10

I understand this film quite well concerning a very attractive young gal with a fancy coat and a nice short skirt who is walking down a dark deserted street in England and a young man just happens to be walking on the sidewalk behind her and each of these people are having thoughts about the situation they are facing. The young woman is complaining about having taken a short cut which seems to have placed her in some danger, especially if this man behind her is a rapist. The man following her has fears on scaring her and decides to change his direction and turn away from her, but changes his mind. I understand and relate to this film because I had encountered a similar experience walking behind a girl in a dark neighborhood and decided to stop walking behind her. This happened several years ago and I know the young lady was very upset just like the gal in this film. Nice quickie of a film. Enjoy

A woman takes a shortcut and is followed by a stranger. She is scared and is thinking whether she should run or not. Out of the blue, she decides to turn around and she sees nothing but a cell phone on the floor.

In flashback, we see the stranger embarrassed for the reaction of the woman. He is aware that she believes that he might be a rapist following her, and he decides to call his mother to talk loudly on the phone and calm down the woman. However, something happens and the stranger vanishes.

"Nightwalking" is another short by Daniel Cormack about the paranoia of persons that live in big cities. The screenplay is witty and concise and the conclusion is ironic and open. The fate of the stranger could have been shown: dead, for a dark end; or he stands up and dates the woman, for a heartwarming conclusion. Or maybe this is a good starting point for a sequel. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nightwalking"

Being one of the few people who uses the list of reviewers that I do here, the maker of this film invited many of us writers to watch and review his film. On reflection this is a risk because if the thirty people he invited, watch it and think it is a piece of rubbish then that is what his page will reflect!

With this in mind I decided that his confidence in his latest short must be based on something so I should check it out – which, after about of month of Sky then Virgin both messing me around with the broadband service, I eventually did tonight. In terms of plot we are in the minds of two people walking alone at night – the woman worried the man behind her is a rapist, the man worried that the woman will think he is a rapist. In this way it is quite engaging to see the embarrassment come out of nowhere and this part of the film works really well. Unfortunately Cormack lacks a strong finish and the punch line is too obvious and doesn't fit with the more observational comedy of the short before.

Direction wise it is well done with effective lighting and camera motion with the two walkers and yet again I have no doubt that Cormack is good at what he does. OK so Make Me a Tory was weak as dishwater but I'm not sure that wasn't his Channel 4 handlers' fault. Nightwalking is not brilliant but for the most part it is quite smart – a stronger ending is needed though.