Exit Strategy

I saw this great short at Tribeca. I loved it! A really talented cast, an ending you don't see coming and lots of fun. Travis is a great story teller and an excellent editor. I just saw that it is available on short of the weeks youtube channel now!

If you don't watch it more than once (maybe even twice), I will be surprised. Have it. :-)

This is the story of two brothers. One is just your average guy, family, kids. The other brother is hi tech nerd. He has developed a way to get a day to continue to repeat itself. The problem is if he tries to intervene and change things, another problem takes its place. The cool thing is that the editing and pacing are wonderful and they have brought in the human element.

The science-fiction idea of a time loop has been widely explored, from the classic "Groundhog Day" to more serious flicks. Often, this type of film is, inevitably, repetitive. This short movie, on the other hand, manages to convey the repetition with well-written narration and adequate use of flashbacks.

The story is compelling and goes beyond your typical sci-fi thriller. The screenplay is clever and manages to juggle the main story, human aspects and a bit of humour. The characters are pretty well-described, so the audience can be entertained both by the series of the events and by the relationship between the two brothers. Acting and editing are, on the whole, solid.

When this ended, my mouth sagged open and then the words "I get it" came out, helplessly. Over and over, I said "I get it".

In dozens of ways I've been thwarted by an endless succession of new and uinpredictable problems in helping my sick brother. Like an automaton, I've been fixing one problem after another, focusing on minutiae, dreading the next piece of bad news. "Exit Strategy" taught me to smell the roses along the way. I'm very grateful to the writers and actors of this excellent allegory for all we try to do to prevent death when, as someone once put it, life is what happens when you're making other plans.