Sorrows Lost

Having not been the type to normally comment, I felt compelled to discuss this film. I recently had the chance to see "Sorrows Lost" at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival (actually supporting another friend's film there). Before it were a number of strange amateurish films and projects that looked like they belonged in a filmmakers school contest. What amazed me about this film was how high the professional quality, detail and plot was. The acting was decent for the most part and the visual effects were very professional (applaud to whoever worked on them). What impressed me the most was how complex and inventive the plot were in such a short amount of time. Not only did this film tell a hauntingly beautiful story that stuck in my head for days, but it had quite an interesting development of characters in such a short amount of time. Having dealt with abuse, I truly felt for the main actress the pain she had gone through. I have seen a lot of movies dealing with this topic in a hokey and unbelievable way but this film was authentic. The timing was near perfect and an amazing plot twist at the end. I also contained amazing dialogue, music and cinematography. I have not seen a short film this professional in years. I give props to the filmmakers for their work. I am certain we'll see more of it soon and am anxious to see what they come up with next.

After reading several comments, I felt I had to add in my two cents as well. "Sorrow Lost" is one of the most memorable shorts I think I have ever seen. I had gotten the chance to see this at the New York Independent Film Festival. I felt that this movie was incredibly beautiful and emotional. The story was beautifully complex - especially for such a short amount of time. The story is focused on a young girl who is victimized by her abusive father. She is soon given the choice to "stop" him by a demon played by "Witchblade's Eric Etebari." Having watched the show, I was amazingly impressed with how he played such unique and different character. I never knew he could act so well! His character was deeply complex and he was very persuasive. The acting was absolutely superb by him. The girl's was okay and the father's was decent. There is also death in this who follows the girl around until she is able to escape from her future. The effects and cinematography were absolutely mind blowing. I wonder if they had at least a hundred thousand budget for this. It is rare you get to see such a high quality short. The opening was absolutely breathtaking comparable with any major feature film. This isn't to say that it's not without its flaws - I thought it took a little to get going and the intro was a little long. But this stuck in my head days after watching it. There are very few shorts with this level of quality.

What do I say about such an absolutely beautiful film? I saw this at the Atlanta, Georgia Dragoncon considering that this is my main town. I am very much a sci-fi aficionado and enjoy action type films. I happened to be up all night and was about ready to call it a day when I noticed this film playing in the morning. This is not a sci-fi nor action film of any sort. Let me just start out by saying that I am not a fan of Witchblade nor of Eric Etebari, having watched a few episodes(his performance in that seemed stale and robotic). But he managed to really win me over in this performance. I mean really win me over. Having seen Cellular, I did not think there was much in the way of acting for this guy. But his performance as Kasadya was simply amazing. He was exceedingly convincing as the evil demon. But there was so much in depth detail to this character it absolutely amazed me. I later looked it up online and found that Eric won the Best Actor award which is well deserved considering its the best of his career and gained my respect. Now I keep reading about the fx of this and production of this project and let me just say that I did not pay attention to them (sorry Brian). They were very nicely done but I was even more impressed with the story - which I think was even more his goal(Seeing films like Godzilla with huge effects just really turned me off). I could not sleep after this film thinking it over and over again in my head. The situation of an abusive family is never an easy one. I showed the trailer to my friend online and she almost cried because it affected her so having lived with abuse. This is one film that I think about constantly and would highly recommend.

I managed to see this at the New York International Film Festival in November 2005 with my boyfriend. We were both quite impressed with the complexity of the plot and found it to be emotionally moving. It was very well directed with strong imagery. The visual effects were amazing - especially for a short. It had an original fantasy approach to a very real and serious topic: This film is about a young girl who is visited by a demon offering to help her situation with her abusive father. There is also a surprise twist at the end which caught me off guard. This leans towards the Gothic feel. I would love to see this as a full feature film. -- Carrie

When you typically watch a short film your always afraid that the person creating the film tries to throw too much into it. That's not the case with this one. A great story about a young girl who's had enough and other worldly forces trying to help make things right.

Eric Etebari does a wonderful job of representing the spirit of twisted justice and helps to convey the complexities of the blurred line of right and wrong.

Both the young girl and the father give great performances in this wonderful short film, but Eric's performance is definitely the show stealer in this story.

I definitely recommend this film for it's complexity, performance, and great over all story.