Inside

Sorry folks, this one's a big loser in my opinion. It's apparently making the festival circuit, which is where I saw it (SFIFF), and I wanted to speak out against this unfortunate phenomenon: the really bad but slickly made festival short.

These films tend to get attention because of their surfacey, superficial flashiness. For instance, this film is in 35mm 'Scope, with a multi-layered stereo soundtrack, and visuals that practically scream at you that they're trying to be artsy and provocative.

Well, hopefully the thin veneer of "creativity" in the guise of skin-deep filmmaking tricks doesn't work on everybody, although it disturbed me that the film seemed to get some enthusiastic applause from portions of the audience.

Back to this film, "Inside".

The film depicts a man suffering multiple personality disorder being interviewed by a nurse who's trying to reach him behind all of his intrusive personalities. I can just imagine the director saying to himself one day, "Wouldn't it be cool if we made a film about a guy with multiple personality disorder, but we actually have characters portraying the respective personalities that only he and the audience can see?!!" Is it just me, or is that the most obvious gimmick that comes to mind? Plus, didn't A BEAUTIFUL MIND do the same thing? (By the way, I'm sure this film was conceived before the Ron Howard movie even came out, but it makes my point that this device is a sadly predictable one). Or does anyone remember a show years back called "Herman's Head" ??

The film is loaded with cliches (padded room, each personality is just a broadly defined archetype, a twist ending that makes us all groan and think of Sixth Sense or any Twilight Zone episode, etc.) The filmmaking is really ostentatious, super-self-important, and inflated way beyond its wafer-thin concept. It looked like one of those commercials or music videos that take on a faux-"cinematic" look but end up being more amusing for their pretensions than cinematically artistic or even dynamic.

Sorry to come down so hard, but criticism keeps the quality up, I hope. I'm anxious to see what others have thought who may have seen this film (as well as the filmmaker(s), perhaps?)

Inside tells the story of a patient who has multiple personality disorder and the struggle of dominance to which one of those personalities controls the body.

The initial concept of this short is original and intriguing, but I felt that the final presentation gives too much away and tries too hard to look stylistic that it loses it's originality. The use of many different actors as the multiple personalities and not just voices was a very smart move on the filmmaker's part, it visually tells us what we need to know in the matter of seconds.

Having the "personality" speak at the same time as the person who hosts these personalities is an interesting choice. It shows that the amount of preparation put into this film was immense. Each personality was extremely different from one another and the casting shows this.

The sets themselves were simple, yet overdone at the same time. It seemed they were trying too hard to get a certain feeling across by the way they created the hallway set piece, it didn't fit with the rest of the story or mood. It seemed too gimmicky and detaches the viewer as soon as they see it.

The female doctor, who later turned out to be one of his personalities as well gives away the secret twist at the end by looking at all the personalities. If that one particular scene was not in the final product it would have worked a lot better. Story telling, for a short such as this, the filmmakers need to be one step ahead of the audience all the time, especially if they want to catch them off guard with a twist. This short failed to do that.

The short itself was entertaining to watch, visually and technically really well done, but a few flaws with the story and it's presentation hurt it.

INSIDE is an 8 minute short film made in the tradition of

THE TWILIGHT ZONE, produced as a showcase for the performers and filmmakers involved. It has been featured in the following festivals:

2002 Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2002 San Francisco International Film Festival 2002 Atlanta Film & Video Festival 2002 Florida Film Festival 2002 Seattle International Film Festival 2002 Malibu Film Festival 2002 San Diego Film Festival 2002 St. Louis International Film Festival

When presenting INSIDE with the Golden Gate Award for best short, the jury of the San Francisco Film Festival (SFIFF) said this:

`Inside is a riveting story about a man with multiple personalities whose incarceration in an asylum is up for review. This short shocking tale is deftly told, from expressionistic start to an astonishing denouement, with expressive acting and elegant camera work.'

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make this film.

T.Sands

I saw this short at the San Francisco Film Festival in 2002. I can't believe that Trevor Sands hasn't made lots of features - I was surprised to learn from IMDb he already did one in 1994. Why is he back to doing shorts - after an interval of 7 years when nothing happened? In 8 minutes, Inside is every bit as good and every bit as surprising as Identity, the James Mangold-Michael Mooney collaboration. The subject is multiple personality disorder, vividly dramatized as never before; the title has a double meaning. To say more would be to spoil the experience. I hope it becomes available on video, and that the filmmaker gets another feature greenlit soon.

I saw this short at the festival with the director I was working with at the time, to get a better idea of what a short film is, how the story varies from features, and the way one flows. I ended up learning how a short can capture an audience with its brilliance, hold it breathless, and unleash an extremely riveting finish. I have since seen a number of shorts, but I haven't yet found a drama of the like that can match this one in its complete mastery of the genre. Bravo, Mr. Sands. Bravo.